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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF. CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


PANAPA  TENIHOTITI   AND   TOPOPOKI, 

Two  Maori  Chiefs   of  New  Zealand. 


THE 
PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

From  Savages  to  Saints 


CHAPTERS   FROM   THE   LIFE    STORIES  OF 

FAMOUS   MISSIONARIES  AND 

NATIVE  CONVERTS 


EDITED  BY 

DELAVAN  L.  PIERSON,  M.A. 

MANAGING    EDITOR    OF  "THE    MISSIONARY 
REVIEW  OF  THE  WORLD" 


MAPS  y  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FUNK   &   WAGNALLS    COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  &■  LONDON 
1906 


Copyright  1906,  by 
FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 
[Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America] 


Published,    October,   ipo6 


O'Y    OkD  /O' 

PS 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    The   Island  Wonders — Introduc- 
tory         I 

Delavan  L.  Pierson 

II     Modern  Miracles  in  Polynesia..     13 
Rev.  Robert  Steel,  D.D. 

III  Pao,  the  Apostle  of  Lieu 2Q 

Rev.  Samuel  MacFarlane,  LL.D. 

IV  Titus  Coan  and  The  Pentecost  at 

HiLO 55 

Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D. 

V  Samoa — Its  People  and  Missions.     85 

Rev.  James  M.  Alexander 

VI     Trials  and  Triumphs  in  the  New 

Hebrides 105 

Rev.  Dr.  William  Gunn,  L.R.C.P. 

VII     The  Transformation  of  ?ne\v  Heb- 
rides S.wages 129 

Rev.  John  G.  Paton,  D.D. 

VIII     How  Christ  Conquered  Fiji 141 

Rev.  D.  L.  Leonard,  D.D. 


iviai  01 09 


viii  LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  House  at  Jeremiah's  Place,  Micronesia.  .  .    217 

Interior  of  a  Church  in  Micronesia 217 

Some  Peasants  in  the  Island  of  Guam 232 

Where  Protestant  Services  Were  Held  in  Guam  232 
Part  of  the  Protestant  Congregation  in  Guam  233 
A  Roman  Catholic  Village  Chapel  in  Guam.  240 
The  Beginnings  of  a  Boarding  School,  Agana .  241 
The  Chief's  Spire  House  at  Kalo,  New  Guinea  260 
Native  House  at  Vanuabada,  New  Guinea.  .  261 
Missionaries  and  Christian  Students  in  New 

Guinea 261 

James   Chalmers,  the    "Greatheart    of  New- 
Guinea  "  . .  . 284 

On  the  Shores  of  New  Guinea 285 

A  Corner  in  a  New  Guinea  Village. 285 

Igorrote  School  Children  from  the  Philippines  321 

Mohammedans  of  the  Sulu  Archipelago 321 

The  Philippine  Native  Sport — Cock-Fighting  336 

Protestant  Services  in  a  Cockpit 336 

Baptismal  Service  at  the  Founding  of  a  Church 

in  the  Jungle 337 

Dyak  W^omen  of  Borneo 344 

The  House  of  a  Dyak  Head-Hunter 345 

A  Chinese  Christian  Congregation  in  Borneo  345 


LIST  OF  MAPS 

The  Hawaiian  Islands 56 

The  Samoan  Islands 88 

The  New  Hebrides  Islands 108 

1  he  Islands  of  Micronesia 208 

The  Philippine  Archipciago 320 

The  Island  of  Borneo 344 


Chapter  I 

THE    ISLAND    WONDERS 

Introductory 

BY 

Delavan  L.  Pierson 


Chapter  I 

THE  ISLAND  WONDERS— Introdnctory 

''"p^HE  Pacific  Islands  have  long  been  famous 
for  the  wondrous  picturesqueness  of  their 
scenery  which  is  characterized  by  luxuriant 
foliage,  volcanic  mountain  peaks  or  quiet  lagoons 
and  by  a  general  prodigal  lav^shness  of  nature 
in  fauna  and  flora.  Birds  and  blossoms  are 
decked  in  most  gorgeous  array,  and  fruits  abound 
with  flavors  delicious  beyond  comparison.  Be- 
hold the  pearls,  and  ebony,  and  satinwood,  and 
coff^ee,  and  cinnamon,  and  coconuts!  How 
strange  that  where  nature  has  wrought  many  of 
her  chief  marvels,  and  is  often  seen  at  her  best, 
man  is  often  found  at  his  very  worst! 

These  islands  of  the  Pacificf  are  of  all  shapes  and 
periods  of  construction,  from  the  coral  reef  and 
volcanic  cone  to  the  verdant  oasis  of  a  thousand 
years,  beauteous  with  its  garland  of  palm-trees, 
pandanus,  and  breadfruit,  surrounded  with  its 
t  As  described  bv  Dr.  Samuel  MacFarlane. 


4  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

barrier  and  fringing  reefs.  The  grand  volcanic 
islands  with  their  mountain  heights,  have  vast 
craters  with  deep  gorges  between,  lofty  peaks, 
abrupt  precipices,  and  sharp  saddle  ridges  of 
basalt,  lava,  and  volcanic  debris,  some  more  and 
others  less  recent. 

In  some  of  the  homes  of  these  cannibals  the 
sublime  and  the  beautiful  are  found  united  as  in 
no  other  part  of  the  world.  Lava-belching  vol- 
canoes throwing  up  vast  mountains,  and  then 
shattering  them  again  with  earthquake  throes  and 
convulsions.  Torrents  leaping  precipices  of  a 
thousand  feet.  The  blue  unbroken  billows  of 
five  thousand  miles  of  ocean  thundering  inces- 
santly upon  their  coral  coasts.  Placid  lagoons 
and  shore  reefs,  beautiful  with  shrubbery  of  a 
genial  ocean.  A  tropical  velvet  verdure,  covering 
with  its  grateful  mantle  the  steepest  mountain 
crags.  Groves  of  palm  and  breadfruit-trees,  like 
cedars  of  Lebanon.  Dells  and  valleys  of  palm- 
covered  plains,  like  the  garden  of  Eden,  with  every 
tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food. 
These  are  some  of  the  natural  features  and  con- 
trasts of  beauty  in  the  fairy  gardens  of  the  homes 
of  the  cannibals  of  the  South  Seas. 

The  islands  of  the  Pacific  were  formerly  famous 
for  the  lowest  type  of  barbarism   and  shocking 


THE  ISLAND  WONDERS  5 

savagery,  for  the  unspeakable  horrors  of  the 
tabuy  cannibalism,  universal  lust,  and  endless 
war.  Fiji,  New  Zealand,  New  Hebrides  and 
Raratonga  were  for  long  years  names  with  which  to 
conjure  up  scenes  most  forbidding  and  loathsome. 

For  ages  these  oceanic  races  lived  secluded 
on  the  islands  of  their  watery  domain,  a  world 
bv  themselves.  The  very  mildness  of  their 
climate  and  productiveness  of  their  soil,  and 
the  abundance  of  fish  in  their  waters,  tended  to 
keep  them  from  advancing  in  civilization  and 
morality.  Wars  almost  exterminated  the  popu- 
lations of  some  of  the  islands;  the  immorality 
was  appalling;  from  one-fourth  to  two-thirds  of 
the  children  were  strangled  or  buried  alive;  can- 
nibalism was  frequent;  and  the  sick  and  aged 
were  usually  killed  rather  than  left  to  die  a  natural 
death. 

In  religion  they  were  polytheists  almost  to  the 
extent  of  pantheism,  for  nearly  every  object  in 
nature  was  in  their  eyes  a  god  of  good  or  evil 
portent.  Their  religious  ceremonies  were  ac- 
companied with  sorcery,  human  sacrifices,  and 
bestial  orgies,  such  as  might  characterize  the 
infernal  regions.  But  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
some  elements  of  humanity  remained,  and  many 
instances    are    recorded    that    show    nobility    of 


6  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

character  and  strivings  after  higher  things  in  the 
political  and  social  spheres. 

The  degraded  state  of  these  islanders,  as  in 
the  case  of  so  many  other  pagan  peoples,  was 
rendered  still  worse  by  the  vices  imported  from 
more  enlightened  nations.  Traders  and  adven- 
turers in  sailing  around  from  the  Atlantic  into 
the  Pacific  "hung  up  their  consciences  off  Cape 
Horn."  These  men  revelled  in  the  heathen 
immorality,  imported  rum  wherewith  to  frenzy 
the  natives,  and  oftentimes  caused  them  to  lose 
^  even  the  little  sense  of  honor  and  duty  which 
they  had  possessed.  It  was  the  murderous 
treachery  of  some  of  the  white  men  that  produced 
distrust  and  hatred  in  the  natives,  which  resulted 
in  the  murder  of  John  Williams  and  other  mis- 
sionaries and  inoffensive  traders.  A  captain  of 
a  vessel  would  sometimes  impersonate  a  mission- 
ary, that  he  might  gain  the  confidence  of  the 
natives,  and  then  would  kidnap  them  to  be  sold 
as  slaves. 

But  where  nature  was  at  her  best  and  natural 
man  at  his  worst,  there  the  Gospel  of  Christ  has 
wrought  some  of  the  most  marvelous  trans- 
formations of  history.  The  thrilling  adventures 
and  noble  self-sacrifice  of  pioneer  missionaries 
have  already  inspired  volumes,  while  the  story  of 


THE  ISLAND  WONDERS  7 

the  conversion  of  cannibal  chiefs  into  Christian 
preachers  and  the  transformation  of  bloodthirsty 
tribes  into  worshipping  churches  form  many 
fascinating  chapters  in  the  Marvels  of  Modern 
Missions.  Nowhere  have  the  triumphs  of  the 
cross  been  more  numerous  or  more  glorious  than 
among  these  savage  islanders.  Upon  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  missionaries  were  toiling  and  waiting  and 
watching  with  weeping  for  fifteen  long  years, 
but  after  that,  within  six  years  27,000  were  gathered 
into  the  churches,  which  now  are  independent, 
almost  self-sustaining.  Within  fifty  years  these 
people,  saved  from  extinction,  have  become  a 
part  of  our  Christian  nation.  Years  ago  their 
hearts  went  out  to  Japan,  and  they  gave  $1000 
to  aid  in  establishing  the  first  Christian  Church 
there.  Besides  supporting  the  work  among  them- 
selves, they  have  carried  on  mission  work  in  other 
islands.  One  of  the  most  striking  facts  indicating 
the  missionary  spirit  of  the  native  Church  is  that 
thirty  per  cent,  of  the  native  ministry  are  foreign 
missionaries,  and  twenty-two  per  cent,  of  the 
Christian  giving  in  the  islands  goes  to  support 
their  foreign  missionary  work. 

Eighty  years  ago  Polynesia  was  entirely  heathen 
and  its  peoples  most  cruel.  Now  more  than  300 
of  the  islands  are  Christian,  so  that  we  can  sa) , 


-8  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

not  only  that  they  wait  for  God's  law,  but  they  have 
received  His  law.  In  one  of  the  New  Hebrides 
there  is  a  suggestive  memorial  slab  near  the  grave 
of  Rev.  John  Geddie:  "When  he  came  here  in 
1848  there  were  no  Christians,  and  when  he  left 
in  1872  there  were  no  heathen."  Thousands 
have  been  thrilled  with  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel 
among  these  cannibals  of  the  New  Hebrides,  by 
reading  the  biography  of  that  venerable  missionary, 
John  G.  Paton.  These  people,  once  gloating  over 
human  flesh,  have  within  a  few  years  given 
thousands  of  dollars  for  the  printing  of  God's 
Word  for  the  feeding  of  human  souls. 

The  man  who  first  entered  the  Friendly  Islands 
as  a  missionary  tells  us  that  the  people  were  so 
ignorant  that  they  did  not  know  of  fire;  they  ate 
everything  raw.  Neither  did  they  know  that 
water  would  boil.  When  this  missionary  kindled 
a  fire  and  boiled  some  water  he  could  scarcely 
restrain  them  from  worshipping  him  as  a  god. 
We  can  imagine  how  they  marveled  when  their 
language  was  reduced  to  writing,  and  the  Word 
of  God  was  printed  on  the  little  mission  printing- 
press.  This  venerable  servant,  who  has  since 
gone  to  his  reward,  lived  to  see  more  than  20,000 
church-members  in  the  Friendly  Islands. 

When  James  Calvert  arrived  at  the  Fiji  group, 


THE  ISLAND  WONDERS  9 

it  was  his  first  duty  to  bury  the  hands,  feet,  and 
heads  of  eighty  victims  whose  bodies  had  been 
roasted  and  eaten  in  a  cannibal  feast.  Can  the 
Gospel  do  anything  for  such  people  ?  Let  the 
same  missionary  answer:  "I  lived  to  see  those 
very  cannibals  who  had  taken  part  in  that  human 
feast  gathered  about  the  Lord's  table,  members 
of  His  Church."  Cannibalism  on  these  islands 
is  wholly  given  up.  Sixty  years  ago  there  was  not  a 
Christian  in  Fiji;  now  there  are  2500 preachers,  1300 
chapels,  2000  day  and  Sunday-schools,  and  3000 
native  teachers.  Surely,  instead  of  the  brier 
there  has  sprung  up  the  myrtle-tree. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  entered  New 
Zealand  as  far  back  as  18 14,  but  waited  and  toiled 
eleven  years  for  the  first  convert,  and  five  years 
longer  for  the  second.  But  then  ensued  such  a 
remarkable  religious  overturning  that  in  1842 
Bishop  Selwyn  could  write:  "A  whole  nation  of 
pagans  has  been  converted  to  the  faith/'  Now, 
out  of  about  40,000  Maoris,  25,000  are  Christians 
by  profession,  while  50  of  their  number  are  ordained 
clergymen. 

The  secret  of  these  distinguished  conquests  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  doubtless  to  be  found  in 
part  in  the  fact  that  the  insular  races,  as  a  rule,  are 
by  nature  more  gentle  and  docile  and   impressible 


lo  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

than  the  Chinese  or  the  Hindus.  The  Islanders 
have  never  been  burdened  and  enslaved  by  any 
form  of  civilization  highly  wrought  and  hoary  with 
age,  or  by  any  religious  system  elaborate  and  forti- 
fied by  centuries  of  learning  and  culture,  and  there- 
fore the  people  were  more  ready  to  look  up  to  their 
teachers  and  to  learn,  like  children,  and  were  less 
proud  and  self-sufficient.  So,  with  all  their  base 
superstition  and  measureless  depravity,  like  the 
publicans  and  sinners  of  our  Lord's  time,  they  were 
much  nearer  the  kingdom  than  many  more  civilized. 


Oceania  may  be  divided  into  five  groups,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  there  are  isolated  groups  and  islands. 

Polynesia  includes  Hawaii,  the  Samoan,  Society, 
Austral,  Tonga  or  Friendly,  Hervey  or  Cook,  Mar- 
quesas, Phcenix,  and  other  groups.  Among  islands 
of  special  interest  in  missionary  annals  are  Tahiti, 
Raratonga,  and  Pitcairn.  They  were  native  teach- 
ers from  Samoa  who  first  carried  the  Gospel  to  the 
New  Hebrides.  Since  Tahiti  and  a  few  other  of 
these  islands  have  come  under  French  control,  the 
Protestant  missionary  work  has  been  transferred 
from  the  London  Society,  which  first  carried  on  the 
work,  to  the  Paris  Evangelical  Society.  The 
London  and  Wesleyan  societies  are  still  at  work 
in  this  portion  of  the  Pacific, 


THE  ISLAND  WONDERS  ii 

Melanesia  includes  the  section  west  of  Polynesia, 
and  the  principal  groups  are  the  New  Hebrides, 
Loyalty,  Banks,  Fiji,  Ellice,  and  Solomon.  The 
societies  engaged  in  evangelizing  these  islands  are 
the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  and  Canada,  the 
Wesley  ans,  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  In  the  New  Hebrides,  fifteen 
islands  are  already  Christian,  and  the  Bible  has 
been  translated  in  whole  or  in  part  into  fifteen 
languages  and  dialects.  In  the  Fiji  Islands  a 
greater  proportion  of  the  population  attends  church 
than  in  the  United  States.  The  Paris  society  also 
works  in  the  Loyalty  Islands,  and  the  Australian 
Churches  have  taken  a  large  part  in  the  evangel- 
ization of  their  neighbors. 

Micronesia  lies  to  the  north  of  Melanesia,  and 
includes  the  Gilbert,  Caroline,  Marshall,  and  La- 
drone  Islands.  Work  was  begun  here  by  Ameri- 
can Board  missionaries  from  Hawaii,  and  has  been 
largely  developed  by  native  Hawaiian  laborers. 

Australasia  comprises,  besides  the  continent  ot 
Australia,  New  Guinea,  New  Zealand,  Tasmania, 
etc.  Australia  is  home  mission  ground;  New 
Zealand  and  Tasmania  are  practically  Christian- 
ized, and  New  Guinea  is  occupied  by  the  London 
society  in  the  English  section,  and  by  the  Rhenish 
and  Neuendettelsan  Missions  in  Kaiser  Wilhelm's 


12  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Land  and  by  the  Utrecht  society  in  the  Dutch  sec- 
tion. At  Bon,  where  there  may  be  seen  thirty 
notches  in  a  tree  to  commemorate  as  many  cannibal 
feasts,  there  is  now  a  flourishing  Chrisian  church. 

Malaysia  consists  for  the  most  part  of  islands 
adjacent  to  Southeastern  Asia.  Among  the  most 
important  of  these  are  Sumatra,  Java,  Celebes, 
the  Molucca,  and  other  small  islands  under  Dutch 
rule.  Borneo  is  divided  between  Holland  and 
Great  Britain,  and  the  Philippines  are  now  under 
the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

The  chief  missionary  work  is  done  by  the  Ameri- 
can Methodists,  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland  and 
other  Dutch  societies,  while  in  the  Philippines  are 
the  American  Bible  Society,  the  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  Methodists,  Episcopalians,  and  others. 

Exclusive  of  Australasia  and  Malaysia,  the  total 
land  area  of  the  South  Sea  Islands  is  60,000 
square  miles,  and  the  population  is  estimated  at 
900,000.  Some  three  hundred  and  fifty  islands  of 
thePacific,includingfourteengroups,  may  besaidto 
be  Christianized,  but  there  are  still  many  more 
islands  almost  or  wholly  untouched,  w^here 
multitudes  await  some  one  to  bring  them  tidings 
of  a  Saviour. 


Chapter  II 
MODERN  MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA 

BY 

Rev.    Robert   Steel,    D.D. 
Formerly  of  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  Australia 


Chapter    II 
MODERN  MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA 

"IVTARITIME  discovery  and  terrestrial  explo- 
ration  have  had  a  great  influence  on  Christian 
work.  During  the  past  centur}'  Captain  Cook's 
"Voyages"  and  Dr.  Livingstone's  ''Travels" 
have  done  much  to  draw  forth  the  energies  of 
Christian  people  to  e.xtend  the  Gospel.  Living- 
stone knew  that  his  discoveries  would  do  this  and 
his  expression  has  become  a  proverb:  "The  end 
of  the  geographical  exploration  is  the  beginning 
of  the  missionary  enterprise."  It  was  otherwise 
with  Captain  Cook.  His  voyages  to  Polynesia, 
though  not  actually  the  first,  awakened  a  great 
interest;  and  after  the  publication  of  the  account 
of  his  visit  to  Tahiti,  the  Viceroy  of  Peru  instituted 
a  mission  under  two  Roman  Catholic  priests.  A 
house  was  erected  for  them  in  Vaitapeha  Bay, 
but  they  remained  only  ten  months,  and  then 
returned  in  the  ships  that  took  them.  Captain 
Cook,  on  his  third  voyage,  in  1777,  saw  the  house 
that  had  been  erected  for  them,  with  a  wooden 
cross   standing  before   it,  on  which   he   read   this 


i6  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

inscription:  "Christus  vincit,  et  Carolus  III.  im- 
perot.  1776."  Referring  to  this  effort  to  introduce 
Christianity  in  the  islands,  Captain  Cook  wrote 
in  his  journal: 

"It  is  very  unlikely  that  any  measure  of  this 
kind  should  ever  be  seriously  thought  of,  as  it 
can  neither  serve  the  purpose  of  public  ambition 
nor  private  avarice;  and  without  such  induce- 
ments I  may  pronounce  that  it  will  never  be  under- 
taken." 

How  much  he  was  mistaken!  How  greatly  he 
had  miscalculated!  There  was  a  stronger  motive 
than  either  "  public  ambition"  or  "  private  avarice" 
to  induce  Christian  people  to  send  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen.  The  love  of  Christ  inspires  mis- 
sionary enterprise  for  fulfilling  the  Divine  com- 
mand. But  it  was  Cook's  "Voyages"  that  were 
used  by  God  to  awaken  the  interest  that  led  to 
the  new  age  of  missions.  William  Carey  read 
the  "Voyages,"  and  was  fired  with  zeal  to  send  the 
Gospel  to  the  South  Sea  Islands.  In  his  first 
pamphlet  he  specially  refers  to  Cook,  and  remarks 
that  "Men  can  now  sail  with  as  much  certainty 
through  the  great  South  Sea  as  they  can  through 
the  Mediterranean  or  any  lesser  sea."  His  un- 
anticipated meeting  with  Mr.  Thomas  afterwards 
directed   Carey's  mind  to  India,  where  he  found 


MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA  17 

his  most  appropriate  sphere.  Rev.  Dr.  Haweis, 
chaplain  to  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  also 
read  Cook's  "Voyages,"  and  pressed  upon  her 
ladyship  the  duty  of  sending  missionaries  to 
Tahiti.  Tho  he  succeeded  with  that  devout 
and  generous  lady  he  could  not  find  the  mis- 
sionaries, but  he  did  not  rest  until,  with  like- 
minded  friends,  a  missionary  society  was  formed 
in  1795.  It  was  then  resolved  to  send  missionaries 
first    to    Tahiti. 

Captain  Cook  had  described  the  natives  of 
the  South  Seas  in  a  very  interesting  and  truthful 
way.  He  told  of  the  savage  and  cannibal  pro- 
pensities rampant  in  some  islands,  the  low 
morals  and  degrading  superstitions  in  all,  while 
he  set  forth  such  pleasing  features  of  life  and 
manner  as  were  disclosed  to  him.  His  observa- 
tions have  stood  the  test  of  all  subsequent  in- 
vestigations, and  his  mode  of  dealing  with  the 
natives  prepared  the  way  for  others  to  follow. 
When  at  last  he  became  a  victim  of  their  savage 
fury,  the  zeal  of  his  Christian  countrymen  led 
them  to  send  the  Gospel  to  these  islands. 

Even  Cook  had  not  sounded  all  the  depths  of 
Polynesian  degradation.  Missionaries  had  to 
discover  them  through  painful  experience  of 
their   evil    deeds.      Thirty    missionaries,   most  of 


\8  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

them  artisans,  left  in  the  first  ship,  the  Duff^  in 
1796,  amid  the  many  prayers  and  great  enthu- 
siasm of  English  Christians.  The  capture  of 
the  vessel  on  her  second  voyage  by  a  French 
privateer  intensified  the  trials  of  the  missionaries 
on  Tahiti  and  Tonga.  The  thievish  and 
exacting  conduct  of  the  natives  on  Tahiti,  the 
frequent  wars  among  them,  the  difficulty  of 
gaining  access  to  their  souls,  and  the  long  delay 
in  receiving  supplies  and  letters  from  England 
made  the  first  twelve  years  a  period  of  great  dis- 
appointment and  danger.  Eleven  of  the  mis- 
sionaries left  Tahiti  in  March,  1798.  Some  died, 
some  fell  into  evil  courses,  and  though  a  re-en- 
forcement came  in  1801,  events  occurred  which 
led  six,  with  their  wives  and  children,  to  leave 
for  Huahine,  and  all  of  the  remainder  except  two 
sailed  for  Australia  in  1809.  Mr.  Nott  alone  re- 
mained on  Tahiti,  so  that  the  mission  was  nearly 
broken  up. 

At  length  several  of  the  missionaries  returned. 
Teaching  and  preaching  were  resumed  and  finally 
in  18 13  a  Tahitian  was  heard  praying  to  the  True 
God.  Tears  of  joy  filled  the  eyes  of  the  brethren. 
After  sixteen  years  of  toil,  anxiety,  and  fear, 
they  were  rewarded — God  had  granted  unto 
these    benighted    people    "repentance    unto   life." 


MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA  19 

The  idols  were  burned  in  18 15.  Pomare,  the 
chief,  triumphed  over  his  enemies,  destroyed 
their  idols,  and  became  a  Christian  inquirer. 
In  18 1 7  Rev.  W.  Ellis  arrived  with  a  printing- 
press,  which  did  eminent  service  to  the  cause  of 
the  Christian  religion  at  that  critical  time.  The 
people  became  eager  to  learn  to  read  and  to  have 
books. 

In  1 8 19  Pomare  and  many  others  were  bap- 
tized, and  a  great  change  was  manifest.  The 
people,  whose  revolting  depravity,  thievish  habits, 
savage  warfare,  degrading  superstitions,  and  bru- 
tal licentiousness  seemed  so  impervious  to  mis- 
sionary endeavors,  really  became  new  creatures 
in  Christ  Jesus.  They  passed  through  conviction 
of  sin;  they  believed  in  the  love  of  God  as  revealed 
in  Christ,  and  started  on  a  new  life  of  moral  up- 
rightness. New  laws  regulated  the  native  king- 
dom, new  arts  were  practised  by  the  people.  A 
marked  devotion  to  God  and  an  exemplary  obedi- 
ence to  His  will  characterized  the  islanders.  The 
churches  were  filled  with  reverent  worshippers, 
the  schools  with  diligent  scholars,  and  in  every 
native  hut  there  was  a  family  altar.  Captains 
of  trading  ships  and  of  ships-of-war,  both  of 
England  and  America — notably  Captain  Fitzroy, 
of    H.    M.    S.    Beagle — noticed    the    remarkable 


20  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

change  in  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  natives, 
and  recorded  this  with  admiring  wonder  in  their 
journals. 

Education  made  progress,  and  native  teachers 
were  trained  to  extend  its  influence,  and  also  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  The  Scriptures  at  length  were 
printed  in  the  Tahitian  language.  In  that  year 
(1836)  there  were  two  thousand  communicants, 
two-thirds  of  the  people  could  read,  many  could 
also  write,  and  the  Society  Islands  were  added  to 
the  Church  of  Christ. 

The  advent  of  such  men  as  William  Ellis  and 
John  Williams,  not  to  speak  of  their  colleagues 
and  successors — all  admirable  missionaries —  was 
an  era  in  these  missions  to  the  South  Seas.  Mr. 
Ellis  gave  an  immense  impetus  to  inquiry  and  the 
missionary  cause  by  the  printing-press  which  he 
brought  and  used.  He  also  aided  the  work  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands,  whose  language  he  mastered 
in  two  months.  Mr.  Williams  became  the  apostle 
of  Polynesia,  conducted  enterprises,  discovered 
islands,  reaped  conquests  for  Christianity,  and 
extended  the  work  of  missions.  His  visit  to  Eng- 
land, his  eloquent  appeals,  the  publication  of  his 
"Missionary  Enterprises,"  which,  as  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  said,  read  like  a  "new 
chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,"  excited  im- 


MIRACLES  IK  POLYNESIA  21 

mense  interest  in  missions.  His  return  to  the 
islands  and  his  martyrdom  in  the  cause,  in  1839, 
awakened  marvelous  sympathy  and  evoked  new 
zeal  for  extending  the  Gospel. 

The  Samoan  mission  was  founded  by  John 
Williams  in  his  memorable  vessel,  The  Messenger 
of  Peace,  built  by  himself  in  1830.  The  people 
there  showed  superior  intelligence,  along  with 
shocking  moral  degradation,  and  they  received 
the  Gospel  with  great  interest.  Deep  convictions, 
even  physical  convulsions,  marked  their  strong 
emotions,  and  they  became  genuine  converts. 
They  were  good  learners  at  school,  and  rewarded 
the  labors  of  their  early  teachers  and  evangelists. 
They  also  developed  a  zeal  for  usefulness,  and 
from  the  noble  institution  established  at  Malva 
sixty  years  ago  by  Messrs.  Hardie  and  Turner,  a 
succession  of  native  pastors  and  teachers  have 
been  trained,  more  than  one  thousand  in  all. 
These  men  became  faithful  pastors  of  native  con- 
gregations and  heroic  pioneers  of  the  Gospel  to 
heathen  islands.  Many  of  them  went  to  do 
missionary  work  among  the  cannibals  in  New 
Guinea. 

The  Hervey  group  of  islands  presented  similar 
scenes  for  Christian  enterprise,  drew  forth  similar 
energy,    and    illustrated    similar    success.     When 


22  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Mr.  Williams  found  Raratonga  in  1823,  he  said: 
''They  were  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  Christian 
worship;  but  when  I  left  them,  in  1836,  I  am 
not  aware  that  there  was  a  house  in  the  island 
where  family  prayer  was  not  observed  night  and 
morning."  Eleven  islands  are  embraced  in  the 
Christian  Church,  and  the  character  of  the  con- 
verts has  been  adorned  by  the  beauty  of  spiritual 
graces.  The  population,  now  much  reduced,  as 
elsewhere  in  Polynesia,  shows  "a  higher  degree 
of  industry  and  a  more  ready  adaptability  to 
European  manners  and  clothing  than  those  of  any 
of  the  group"  visited  by  the  Auckland  commission- 
ers of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Hundreds 
of  native  teachers  have  been  trained,  and  many 
have  gone  to  other  islands. 

The  mission  in  Tonga  started  amid  appalling 
difficulties  in  1796,  and  a  long  and  gloomy  period 
of  peril  and  disappointment  followed  before  hope 
dawned.  The  most  horrible  cruelties  were  per- 
petrated, and  the  king,  who  died  in  1892,  after  a 
Christian  reign  of  more  than  half  a  century,  led 
an  attack  on  a  French  whaler  in  1806,  in  vvhich  the 
crew  were  mercilessly  massacred.  After  the  Wes- 
leyan  Methodists  took  up  this  mission  God  blessed 
their  labors  with  a  remarkable  religious  awakening. 
King  George  became  a  convert  in  1831,  gave  up 


MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA  23 

his  idols,  liberated  his  slaves,  built  churches,  and 
even  preached  the  Gospel.  Eager  crowds  gathered 
to  hear  the  Word  of  God,  the  people  were  taught 
to  read,  and  a  printing-press  supplied  portions  of 
the  Scriptures  and  other  books.  Christianity  tri- 
umphed in  a  signal  manner.  A  self-supporting  and 
a  missionary  church  arose,  with  a  college  for  native 
pastors,  a  translated  Bible,  and  an  increasing  com- 
merce. The  Tongan  pioneers  were  a  great  factor 
in  evangelizing  Fiji. 

The  Fiji  group  of  islands  was  a  hot-bed  of 
savage  cannibalism,  of  incessant  internecine  war- 
fare, and  of  all  the  vices  of  a  barbarous  people. 
The  early  missionaries,  Messrs.  Cargill  and 
Cross,  went  at  the  hazard  of  their  lives,  and 
had  a  painful  struggle  amid  a  people  with  reck- 
less disregard  for  human  life  and  its  tenderest 
ties,  and  with  an  appetite  for  human  flesh  never 
excelled  even  among  the  Maoris.  The  Gospel 
at  length  gained  influence,  natives  were  con- 
verted, and  women  were  saved  from  strangling 
at  the  death  of  their  husbands.  In  1857  Thak- 
ombau,  the  great  cannibal  chief  and  conqueror, 
was  baptized  before  a  congregation  many  of 
whose  wives  he  had  dishonored,  widows  whose 
husbands  he  had  eaten,  women  whose  brothers 
he  had  murdered.    He  learned  to  read,  he  learned 


24  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

to  rule,  he  protected  the  missionaries,  he  aided 
the  advancing  cause  of  Christianity,  and  when 
white  settlers  were  pressing  into  the  islands  he 
voluntarily  offered  the  land,  with  full  consent  of 
the  chiefs,  to  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  The  Scriptures  were  translated  partially 
at  first  in  fifteen  dialects,  and  finally  in  one,  now 
known  and  read  by  all  Fijians.  The  result  is  that 
governors,  naval  officers,  travelers,  and  colonists 
have  all  testified  to  the  thorough  work  of  trans- 
formation wrought  by  means  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  mission.  Miss  Gordon  Cumming,  after 
two  years  in  Fiji,  says: 

"You  may  pass  from  isle  to  isle,  certain  every- 
where to  find  the  same  cordial  reception  by  kindly 
men  and  women.  Every  village  in  the  80  in- 
habited islands  has  built  for  itself  a  tidy  church 
and  a  good  house  for  its  teacher  or  native  minister, 
for  whom  the  village  also  provides  food  and 
clothing.  Can  you  realize,  that  there  are  900 
Wesleyan  churches  in  Fiji,  at  every  one  of 
which  the  frequent  services  are  crowded  by 
devout  congregations;  that  the  schools  are  well 
attended;  that  the  first  sound  which  greets 
your  ear  at  dawn  and  the  last  at  night  is  that  of 
hymn-singing  and  the  most  fervent  worship  rising 
from  each  dwelling  at  the  hour  of  family  prayer  V 


'tf'fy"} 


l;l<i    \Ki    \.-  1     i.N     1  111.    l>l.A.\i)    »)1      lAlll  I  I. 


I).\X(I.\(;    l.\    IROVT   ni-     \    \  Al  l\l-:    irtTT    IX    TAHITI. 


THE  Wl..^l.l.\  Aa  college  IX  NUKUALOFA.  TONGA. 


rHE  KIXG'.S  CHURCH  AT  NUKUALOFA,  TONGA. 


MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA  25 

Well  may  we  ask,  "What  hath  God  wrought  r" 
The  Melanesian  Mission  was  commenced  in 
1848  by  the  first  bishop  of  New  Zealand,  Dr. 
George  Augustus  Selwyn,  a  man  of  an  apostolic 
spirit.  He  pioneered  the  work  amid  the  islands 
and  endeavored  with  rare  tact  to  ingratiate  himself 
with  the  islanders.  Boys  were  induced  to  go  to 
Auckland  to  be  educated  and  returned  to  their 
native  islands.  He  persuaded  John  Coleridge 
Patteson  to  assist  him,  and  afterward  to  become 
Bishop  of  Melanesia.  Work  was  carried  on  in 
the  Northern  New  Hebrides,  the  Banks,  Torres, 
Solomon,  and  Santa  Cruz  groups.  Many  youths 
were  taught  at  Norfolk  Island,  which  was  made 
the  headquarters,  and  a  band  of  European  mis- 
sionaries was  secured.  Bishop  Patteson  fell  a 
martyr  at  Nikapu  in  1872  and  Bishop  John  Selwyn 
succeeded  him.  The  Melanesian  Christians  now 
number  some  twelve  thousand  and  there  are  be- 
tween 8000  and  10,000  pupils  under  teachers. 
A  steam  vessel  serves  the  mission  amid  the 
islands. 

The  aborigines  of  Australia  have  been  the  most 
difficult  of  all  tribes  to  evangelize.  They  are  en- 
tirely nomadic,  which  makes  it  impossible  for  a 
missionary  to  be  with  them  in  their  own  way  of 
living.     The  only   means  of  reaching  them   has 


26  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

been  by  inducing  some  of  them  to  settle  on  certain 
reserves.  Again  and  again  a  forlorn  hope  has 
been  cherished  in  all  the  colonies,  and  the  not 
without  some  faint  encouragements,  has  been 
on  the  whole  very  disappointing.  Contact  with 
Europeans  has  not  been  favorable.  But  in  the 
more  favorable  settlements  both  education  and 
religion  have  had  occasional  success  in  each  of 
the  colonies.  The  Rev.  V.  A.  Nagenauer,  who 
has  devoted  thirty-five  years  to  Christian  work 
among  them  in  Victoria,  does  not  despair  of 
missionary  success.  The  most  promising  eflPorts 
at  present  are  those  in  Mapoon,  Northern  Aus- 
tralia, where  the  Moravians  have  a  mission  far 
away  from  white  settlements.  It  is  to  these  that 
the  prayers  and  liberal  gifts  should  be  given,  in 
the  hope  that  even  yet  a  proportion  of  the  blacks 
of  Australia  may  be  gathered  into  the  Christian 
Church  before  the  race  finally  disappears.  Self- 
denying  missionaries  have  labored  among  them 
and  have  won  converts  to  Christ.  Small  portions 
of  the  Gospels  have  been  translated  into  diflPerent 
languages.  The  Lutherans  have  a  mission  in  the 
east,  and  the  Presbyterians  on  the  Batavia  River, 
in  the  Gulf  of  Carpentaria.  Large  reserves  have 
been  secured,  and  the  government  aids  the  secular 
part.     The  churches  support  the  missionaries. 


MIRACLES  IN  POLYNESIA  27 

One  ven  pleasing  feature  has  characterized 
missions  in  the  Pacific.  They  have,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, been  free  from  sectarian  strife.  Very 
rarely  have  missionary  societies  overlapped  each 
other  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Roman  Catholic 
missions  have  occasionally  entered  upon  spheres 
where  the  natives  had  already  become  Christians; 
but  Protestant  missions  have  each  been  left  to 
the  groups  where  they  began  the  good  work. 
Though  Anglican  bishops  have  taken  a  part  in 
the  work,  they  have,  as  a  rule,  not  only  refrained 
from  interfering  with  others,  but  have  even  retired 
farther  on,  as  in  the  New  Hebrides,  as  the  pioneer 
missionaries  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  advanced. 

Great  hindrances  to  missionary  work  in  the 
South  Seas  have  arisen  not  merely  from  the  degra- 
dation and  vicious  habits  of  a  barbarous  people, 
but  also  from  these  other  causes  : 

1.  The  presence  of  vicious  white  men,  some  of 
them  runaway  convicts,  some  sailors,  and  others, 
a  class  called  "beach  combers,"  who  had  in- 
gratiated themselves  with  the  natives,  and  fre- 
quently plotted  against  the  missionaries. 

2.  The  unprincipled  and  immoral  conduct  of 
the  crews  of  some  ships. 

3.  The  distribution  of  intoxicating  liquors  among 
the  natives. 


28  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

4.  The  immoral  relations  of  some  traders  with 
the  native  women,  and  the  opposition  to  the  mis- 
sionaries by  these  men. 

5.  The  worldly  influences  introduced  along  with 
civilized   life   and   commerce. 

6.  The  exportation  of  natives  to  plantations  in 
the  colonies  or  on  other  islands. 

There  are  not  fewer  than  350  islands  of  Poly- 
nesia that  have  been  more  or  less  fully  evangelized 
in  this  century.  A  fleet  of  five  missionary  vessels 
with  auxiliary  small  craft  has  been  occupied  in 
this  work  till  steamships  in  the  trade  have  caused 
some  to  cease.  The  Word  of  God  has  been 
rendered  into  over  50  languages  in  whole  or  in 
part.  Half  a  million  of  converts  have  been  gath- 
ered into  the  Church.  Many  faithful  native 
pastors  and  teachers  have  been  trained,  and  have 
illustrated  the  graces  of  Christian  character  and 
the  works  of  faith  and  love.  Some  have,  amid 
many  dangers,  pioneered  the  Gospel  to  savage 
islands,  and  have  led  the  natives  to  Christ  without 
European  or  American  missionary  aid.  The 
whole  expense  has  been  about  $10,000,000,  or 
;^2,ooo,ooo!  Has  this  not  been  a  wonderfully 
economical  enterprise  to  have  produced  such 
glorious  and  permanent  results } 


Chapter    III 
PAO,  THE  APOSTLE  OF   LIFU 

BY 

Rev.   Samuel   MacFarlane,   LL.D. 

Founder  of  the  New  Guinea  Mission,  Author  of 

"Among  the  Cannibals  of  New  Guinea"  and 

"The  Story  of  the  Lifu  Mission." 


Chapter    III 

PAO,  THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU 

A  BOUT  forty-three  years  ago  I  bade  good-by 
to  home  and  friends  and  civiHzation,  and 
started  for  the  cannibal  islands  in  Western  Poly- 
nesia. My  destination  was  Lifu,  the  largest  and 
most  populous  island  in  the  Loyalty  group.  As 
the  highest  point  of  these  islands  does  not  exceed 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  it  is  sufficiently  plain 
why  Captain  Cook  sailed  along  the  eastern  coast 
of  New  Caledonia  without  discovering  them. 
They  were  not  known  until  1803,  and  M.  Dumont 
d'Urville  was  the  first  to  make  a  hydrographic 
chart  of  the  group. 

Lifu  and  such  islands  as  Mangaia  and  Niue,or 
Savage,  Island  are  composed  of  coral  rocks,  more 
or  less  modified  by  the  action  of  air,  water,  and 
other  agents.  These  do  not  exhibit  the  pictur- 
esque beauty  of  the  volcanic  islands  nor  the  soft 
and  gentle  loveliness  of  the  true  coral  islands, 
which  have  received  the  enthusiastic  praise  of  all 
voyagers  in  the  South  Seas;  still,  they  are  beautiful 
in  their  own  peculiar  way. 

31 


32  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

It  was  on  Lifu  that  I  spent  the  first  thirteen 
years  of  my  missionary  life,  and  gained  much 
valuable  experience  for  the  more  difficult  work  in 
New  Guinea.  The  pioneer  Christian  teacher 
among  those  Lifu  cannibals  was  a  native  of  Poly- 
nesia. An  Englishman  had  also  lived  with  the 
people  many  years  before  my  coming.  These  two 
pioneers — an  English  heathen  and  a  Polynesian 
Christian — preceded  me,  the  first  missionary  on 
Lifu.  While  the  Englishman  was  being  trained 
in  a  Christian  home  and  attending  the  Sunday- 
school,  the  Polynesian  was  being  initiated  in  all 
the  abominations  of  the  savages  on  Raratonga. 

The  English  boy  ran  away  from  home,  and 
shipped  on  board  a  vessel  going  to  Australia.  He 
made  friends  with  the  worst  of  the  sailors,  and  in 
Australia  gave  himself  up  to  drink  and  vice,  and 
at  length  engaged  himself  as  a  sailor  on  a  small 
vessel  going  to  Western  Polynesia.  At  Lifu  the 
reckless  youth  determined  to  take  up  his  abode 
with  its  savage  inhabitants.  He  landed  among 
them,  and  gained  their  favor  by  giving  away  his 
clothes  and  adopting  their  mode  of  life. 

He  assisted  the  tribe  in  their  cruel  wars,  and 
became  a  noted  warrior  and  a  terror  to  the  other 
tribes.  He  even  revelled  with  them  in  their  abom- 
inable cannibal  feasts,  and  became  known  among 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  33 

traders  as  "Cannibal  Charlie."  When  the  mis- 
sionary ship  John  Williams  first  visited  the  island, 
this  heathen  white  man  came  off  in  a  canoe  "  as 
wild  as  the  wildest  heathen,  and  much  more  detest- 
able to  look  on  than  they." 

Three  thousand  miles  away  to  the  east  of  Lifu 
another  lad  had  been  growing  up  in  a  heathen 
home,  who  was  to  be  the  next  foreigner  to  settle 
at  Lifu.  His  name  was  Pao.  His  countrymen 
were  a  wild  lot  of  savages  and  Pao  was  nurtured 
amid  the  cruelties  of  war  and  the  abominations 
of  heathenism.  He  would  doubtless  make  a  brave 
young  warrior,  for  as  I  knew  him  years  afterward 
he  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  dauntless 
courage. 

Pao's  place  of  conversion  and  school  of  in- 
struction was,  strangely  enough,  on  board  an 
American  whaler.  These  ships  generally  carry 
the  most  godless  crews,  but  judging  from  my  own 
experience  many  are  not  so  black  as  they  have 
been  painted.  On  board  the  one  which  took 
away  the  young  savage,  Pao,  for  a  three  years' 
cruise,  there  must  have  been  at  least  one  devout 
sailor,  who  took  spiritual  charge  of  the  youth,  and 
endeavored  to  make  him  the  means  of  blessing  to 
his  countrymen.  He  taught  him  to  read  and 
write,  and  speak  English  fairly  well;    he  explained 


34  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

to  him,  in  a  simple  way,  the  doctrines  of  a  Christian 
rehgion,  and  had  the  joy  of  witnessing  the  dawn 
of  hght  and  growing  enthusiasm  in  the  mind  of 
this  heathen  young  man.  Long  before  the  three 
years'  engagement  was  completed,  Pao  had  de- 
clared his  intention  of  becoming  a  missionary  to 
his  countrymen  on  his  return. 

When  Pao  was  landed  at  Raratonga  he  was  de- 
Hghted  to  find  that  John  Williams,  the  renowned 
missionary  of  Polynesia,  had  established  a  mis- 
sion there,  and  that  some  progress  was  already 
visible.  He  was  a  valuable  addition  to  the  small 
mission  party,  and  his  story  of  the  white  man  and 
the  white  man's  God  was  listened  to  by  his  heathen 
countrymen  with  great  attention  and  wonder. 
He  went  from  village  to  village  proclaiming  the 
Gospel  of  peace  and  salvation. 

The  South  Sea  Island  missions  have  been  pre- 
eminently distinguished  for  their  noble  bands  of 
native  pioneer  evangelists.  The  European  pio- 
neers at  Tahiti  labored  for  seventeen  years  before 
one  native  embraced  the  Gospel;  but  where 
native  pioneers  have  gone  it  has  rarely  taken  as 
many  months  to  gather  in  the  harvest.  The 
secret  of  their  success  is  that  they  are,  above  all 
things,  consecrated  men  and  understand  the  people. 
From  their  early  days  they  have  been  trained  as 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  35 

warriors,  beginning  their  education  with  toy  bows, 
arrows  and  spears.  When  they  embrace  the 
Gospel  they  carry  their  war-spirit  with  them  and 
often  say:  "  We  have  been  the  soldiers  of  the  devil. 
We  are  now  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  Tell  us 
what  He  would  like  to  have  us  do."  WTien  these 
men  learn  that  Christ  would  not  like  to  have  them 
go  to  a  certain  place,  they  say,  "Then  I  won't  go"; 
that  He  would  not  like  to  hear  them  using  bad 
language,  their  reply  is,  "Then  I  won't  say 
that  any  more."  With  consecrated,  enthusiastic 
converts  like  these  it  is  easy  to  understand  the 
rapid  progress  of  Christianity  in  the  Pacific  Islands. 

It  is  not  always  the  best-educated  converts 
who  make  the  most  successful  pioneer  evangelists. 
Pao's  life  and  work  illustrate  this  in  a  very  re- 
markable manner.  When  an  institution  for  train- 
ing native  teachers  was  established  at  Raratonga, 
and  a  call  given  for  volunteers  to  carry  the  Gospel 
to  the  cannibals  of  western  Polynesia,  Pao  offered 
himself.  A  few  months  later  the  John  Williams 
arrived,  and  finding  that  she  w^as  to  visit  the  can- 
nibal islands  in  the  west,  Pao  at  once  went  to 
Mr.  Buzacott,  the  missionary,  and  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  go  in  the  vessel. 

"What  for.''"  asked  the  missionary. 

"  To  teach  the  cannibals,"  replied  the  young  man. 


36  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

"Why,"  said  Mr.  Buzacott,  "you  have  only 
been  here  a  few  months;  you  have  four  years' 
training  before  you  yet;  you  must  learn  before 
you  teach." 

"  I  want  to  teach  what  I  have  learned,"  answered 
the  intrepid  youth.  "It  is  true  I  don't  know 
much,  but  I  know  who  the  true  God  is;  I  know 
who  Jesus  Christ  is;  and  I  know  about  the  future; 
let  me  go  and  tell  them  that,  and  send  other  young 
men  after  me  to  teach  them  other  things." 

It  was  well  that  Mr.  Buzacott  possessed  a  large 
amount  of  "sanctified  common  sense."  Had  he 
insisted  upon  Pao's  remaining  to  complete  his 
four  years'  course,  he  might  have  spoiled  one  of 
the  finest  specimens  of  Polynesian  pioneers.  Men 
like  Pao  are  exceptional,  and  should  be  treated 
accordingly;  they  are  God-trained  men  for  a 
special  work.  A  long  course  of  study  might  damp 
their  enthusiasm,  and  change  their  views.  The 
object  of  training  should  be  to  fit  them  for  the 
work  they  are  called  to  do.  What  more  did  Pao 
need  for  a  pioneer  among  savages  and  cannibals  ? 
He  had  unwavering  faith  in  God  and  in  His 
Gospel  message.  He  had  a  great  pity  for  the 
heathen  and  a  burning  zeal  and  yearning  desire 
to  declare  to  them  the  message  of  God's  love. 
What  more  did  he  require .''    The  convincing  argu- 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIEU  t,-] 

ment  would  be  his  own  lite;  and  he  felt  sure  that 
the  power  that  had  changed  him,  and  was  chang- 
ing eastern  Polynesia,  would  not  fail  among  the 
cannibals  of  the  west.  So  his  request  was  granted, 
and  he  was  solemnly  set  apart  as  a  Gospel  mes- 
senger to  the  cannibals  of  Lifu;  and  he  again 
sailed  away  fromhis  native  land,  this  time  never 
to  return. 

The  ferocious  cannibals  of  the  Loyalty  group 
had  taken  several  English  vessels  and  murdered 
the  crews.  They  declared  to  me  when  I  settled 
among  them  that  they  found  this  a  very  easy  way 
of  acquiring  property.  As  the  mission  had  already 
gained  a  footing  on  Mare,  about  forty-five  miles 
from  Lifu,  it  was  thought  prudent  to  leave  Pao 
at  that  station  for  a  year  until  the  return  of  the 
John  fVilliams.  It  was  hoped  that  by  that  time 
he  would  not  only  be  able  to  form  the  acquaint- 
ance and  learn  the  language  of  some  of  the  Mare 
natives  w^ho  had  friends  and  relatives  at  Lifu, 
but  also  would  make  friends  with  some  of  the 
Lifuans  themselves,  who  w-ere  in  the  habit  of 
crossins:  in  their  canoes  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year. 

But  Pao  was  not  the  man  to  wait  for  a  whole 
year  when  the  sphere  of  his  work  was  so  near.  He 
soon  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  Mare 


38  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

language  to  make  himself  understood,  and  by  his 
energy  and  skill  in  canoe-  and  house-building  he 
became  popular  with  the  natives,  and  prevailed 
upon  a  few  who  had  friends  at  Lifu  to  accompany 
him  in  a  canoe  to  that  island. 

Pao  knew  the  dangers  he  was  facing  both  from 
sea  and  from  savages  but  he  hesitated  not.  He 
sat  in  the  stern  of  his  little  canoe,  grasping  the 
steering-paddle,  and  gazing  across  the  white- 
capped  waves  to  catch  the  first  sight  of  his  sphere 
of  labor.  He  had  a  little  bundle  stowed  away  in 
the  canoe,  containing  his  Raratongan  New  Testa- 
ment and  a  few  simple  presents  for  the  chief.  He 
not  only  knew  how  to  build  a  good  canoe,  but  how 
to  sail  it,  and  secured  the  confidence  of  his  fellow 
passengers  by  the  dexterous  way  in  which  he 
manipulated  the  steering-paddle,  keeping  the 
canoe  from  shipping  much  water.  Two  or  three 
hours  after  they  had  lost  sight  of  Mare  the  tops 
of  the  cocoanut-trees  at  Lifu  appeared  to  rise  out 
of  the  sea,  growing  as  they  drew  nearer,  till  the 
land  itself  became  visible;  then  the  barrier-reef, 
like  a  ridge  of  snowy  foam;  and  soon  afterward 
they  heard  the  thunder  of  the  breakers.  As  the 
canoe  drew  near  the  dangerous  reef  a  crowd  of 
natives  assembled  on  the  beach,  and  some  waded 
out  in  the  lagoon. 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  39 

Only  those  who  have  passed  through  the  ex- 
perience know  what  a  sense  of  relief  and  thank- 
fulness one  feels  when  he  has  shot  through  the 
narrow  reef-passage  from  a  tempestuous  sea 
into  the  placid  lagoon.  Pao  required  all  his 
strength  and  skill  to  keep  his  canoe  from  being 
swept  broadside  onto  the  barrier-reef.  But  no 
sooner  was  he  safely  in  the  lagoon  and  relieved 
from  all  anxiety  about  the  voyage  than  a  more  for- 
midable danger  appeared.  How  would  he  be  re- 
ceived by  the  cannibals  who  were  assembled  on 
the  beach  .'  He  knew  that  the  great  chief  Bula 
was  a  despot  and  that  his  word  was  law^,  from 
which  there  was  no  appeal.  Whether  they  would 
listen  to  his  message  or  feast  on  his  body  depended, 
humanly  speaking,  entirely  upon  this  man.  So 
Pao  wisely  determined  to  appeal  to  the  chief  at 
once.  Being  of  a  lighter  color  than  his  compan- 
ions, with  black,  straight  hair  of  the  Malayan 
type,  he  was  a  conspicuous  object  as  he  stood 
in  the  bow  of  the  canoe,  which  was  being  paddled 
toward  the  beach.  His  friends  had  told  him  that 
many  of  the  people  there  were  acquainted  with 
the  Mare  language,  and  that  they  would  under- 
stand if  he  spoke  to  them  in  that  tongue.  As  he 
drew  near  the  crowd  of  savages  he  shouted,  "Go 
and  tell  the  king  that  I  am  a  friend,  and  have 


40  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

brought  a  message  for  him  from  the  Great  Spirit." 
He  was  unwittingly  setting  an  example  of  a  way 
of  introducing  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  that 
would  be  followed  by  many  a  Lifu  pioneer  evan- 
gelist afterward  in  the  New  Hebrides,  New  Cale- 
donia, and  New  Guinea. 

The  king  received  the  news  with  astonishment 
and  delight.  Here  was  a  man  who  could  tell  him 
what  he  wanted  to  know.  He  had  been  losing 
faith  in  his  gods,  and  had  actually  sent  canoes  to 
the  neighboring  islands  to  see  if  they  could  find 
any  more  powerful  than  his;  now  comes  a  man 
with  a  message  from  the  Great  Spirit  Himself,  of 
whom  their  hazes  were  merely  representations. 
So  he  told  some  of  his  warriors  to  bring  the  stranger 
to  his  house.  Surrounded  by  these  braves,  and 
followed  by  a  crowd,  he  was  conducted  to  the 
king,  whom  he  found  sitting  on  a  mat  in  the  midst 
of  his  head  men.  Bula  was  the  most  powerful 
chief  in  the  Loyalty  group,  having  five  thousand 
petty  chiefs  and  men  who  paid  tribute  to  him, 
and  were  ready  to  use  their  clubs  and  spears  for 
him  at  any  moment. 

When  Pao  was  brought  in,  the  king  regarded 
him  for  a  few  moments  in  silence.  No  one  dared 
to  speak  till  he  had  uttered  his  wish,  and  they 
were  prepared  to  carry  out  that  wish  with  reference 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  41 

to  this  stranger,  whatever  it  might  be.  Presently 
the  king  said,  in  the  Mare  language: 

"  Have  you  a  message  for  me  from  the  Great 
Spirit?" 

"Yes,"  replied  Pao,  emphatically — so  decidedly, 
indeed,  that  all  present  looked  at  him  in  astonish- 
ment. The  king  again  turned  his  eyes  to  the 
light-colored,  black-haired  young  messenger  as 
he  stood  fearlessly  before  him. 

"Have  you  seen  him  .''"  said  the  king. 

"No,"  replied  Pao,  "you  can  not  see  a  spirit." 

"Then  how  did  you  get  the  message  .''"  inquired 
the  king. 

"By  letter,"  said  Pao,  "and  here  it  is,"  pro- 
ducing his  New  Testament.  "The  white  mis- 
sionaries have  translated  it  into  my  language, 
and  they  will  very  soon  come  and  translate  it  into 
yours.  I  have  come  to  live  with  you,  and  learn 
your  language,  and  tell  you  what  the  letter  con- 
tains." 

"Good,"  said  the  king.  "I  will  be  your  friend 
and  proclaim  }'ou  my  enekma."  This  not  only 
secured  protection  for  Pao  throughout  the  king's 
territory,  but  led  to  his  being  kindly  and  hospitably 
treated  wherever  he  went. 

For  a  few  days  the  king  listened  attentively 
to  all  that  Pao  had  to  say  about  the  true  God;  ther 


42  IHE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

determined  to  test,  in  his  own  way,  the  truth  of 
some  of  the  things  that  he  had  heard;  so  he  sent 
for  Pao,  and  thus  addressed  him: 

"You  say  that  your  God  is  above  all  gods; 
that  He  made  all  things,  and  is  almighty.  Now, 
that  is  the  kind  of  God  I  want.  Our  fathers 
worshipped  these  gods  of  wood  and  stone,  and 
told  us  they  represented  the  Great  Spirit  and  were 
sacred.  We  have  prayed  to  them  and  made 
sacrifices  to  them,  but  they  have  failed  us  in  war, 
in  sickness,  and  in  sending  rain  when  we  need  it. 
Your  letter,  which  you  say  comes  from  the  Great 
Spirit,  may  be  more  powerful ;  we  will  try  it.  Our 
enemies  on  the  other  side  of  the  island  have 
plundered  some  of  my  villages  on  the  border  and 
killed  some  of  my  people.  They  are  led  by  a  white 
man  who,  they  say,  is  a  great  warrior.  We  will 
fight  them.  You  shall  go  with  us,  carrying  the 
letter  from  the  Great  Spirit;  we  will  fight  under 
it,  and  if  He  is  what  you  say,  and  this  is  His  letter, 
victory  will  be  ours,  for  their  gods  are  no  better 
than  ours." 

All  applauded.  The  test  seemed  a  fair  one.  It 
was  in  vain  that  Pao  preached  his  Gospel  of  peace 
amid  the  preparations  for  war.  Neither  king  nor 
people  were  in  a  mood  to  listen  or  to  leave  him 
behind,  so  he  made  the  best  of  the  position  in 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  43 

which  he  found  himself,  and  prayed  earnestly  to 
God  for  victory,  that  His  cause  might  be  estab- 
lished and  his  own  life  spared  to  work  among  this 
people. 

The  warriors  met  on  the  borders  of  the  two 
districts,  at  a  place  called  We,  their  common 
battlefield.  On  the  one  side  was  "Cannibal 
Charlie"  and  on  the  other  was  Pao.  The  white 
heathen  and  the  converted  savage  were  the  guests 
of  the  opposing  chiefs,  and  both  sides  looked  to 
them  to  secure  victory.  Pao  felt  that  it  was  like 
the  meeting  of  Elijah  with  prophets  of  Baal,  and 
he  had  no  fear  of  the  result.  We  do  not  know  how 
Cannibal  Charlie  spent  the  night  before  the  battle, 
but  Pao  and  his  companions  from  Mare  sang 
hymns  and  prayed  to  the  true  God  for  a  victory 
that  would  establish  His  cause  on  the  island,  and 
lead  to  peace  and  the  conversion  of  the  people. 
The  savages  sat  silently  around  their  camp-fires 
and  listened  to  these  strange  proceedings,  re- 
garding them,  no  doubt,  as  incantations.  But 
Pao  was  not  only  a  man  of  prayer  and  faith;  he 
was  pre-eminently  a  man  of  action.  His  energy, 
and  courage  and  fearlessness  were  always  spoken 
of  by  the  people  with  admiration.  That  night 
they  w^ere  infectious  as  he  moved  about  amongst 
the  warriors. 


44  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Next  morning  the  armies  were  drawn  up  op- 
posite to  each  other  on  the  plain.  Heralds  rush 
out  from  each  side  toward  the  enemy,  whom  they 
approach  in  the  most  defiant  attitude,  shaking 
their  spears  and  brandishing  their  clubs,  calling 
out  the  names  of  their  fathers  and  chiefs.  But 
before  coming  dangerously  near  each  other, 
they  stop  suddenly,  throw  grass  and  dirt  toward 
the  enemy,  and  retire.  This  is  repeated  as  the 
armies  slowly  approach  each  other,  till  the  heralds 
come  into  conflict,  and  then  their  friends  rush  to  the 
rescue  and  a  general  fight  takes  place.  There  is 
a  good  deal  more  yelling  and  shouting  and  urging 
each  other  on  than  actual  fighting  in  these  wars, 
and  neither  side  will  remain  long  after  seeing  a 
few  of  their  side  killed  and  wounded. 

At  last  Pao's  party  were  admitted  to  be  the 
conquerors,  and  this  secured  to  him  the  liberty 
of  proclaiming  the  Gospel  throughout  Bula's 
district.  The  king  and  his  ministers  professed 
to  adopt  the  new  religion,  but  merely  as  a  means 
of  furthering  their  wicked  ends.  Pao  and  his 
God  were  to  be  kept  for  themselves,  and  to  be 
used  against  their  enemies;  but  they  were  un- 
willing to  place  themselves  under  any  of  the  re- 
straints required  by  the  Gospel.  They  continued 
their   wars,    practised    polygamy,    and    often    re- 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  45 

turned  from  evening  prayers,  unknown  to  Pao, 
to  another  house  to  eat  human  flesh. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  king 
became  blind,  which  was  regarded  by  the  natives 
as  a  great  calamity,  caused  by  some  person  or 
persons  by  their  incantations.  The  consciences 
of  some  of  them,  however,  told  that  they  had 
played  the  hypocrite  with  Pao,  and  they  naturally 
looked  upon  this  as  a  punishment  from  his  God, 
and  determined  to  put  him  to  death.  Five  men 
were  selected  for  this  purpose,  from  one  of  whom 
I   received  the  story. 

One  day  when  Pao  was  mending  his  canoe 
on  the  beach,  they  arranged  to  surround  him, 
enter  into  a  conversation  with  him,  and  then, 
upon  a  given  signal,  tomahawk  him.  They  ap- 
proached, encircled  him,  conversed  with  him, 
gave  the  signal,  but  no  hand  was  raised  against  him. 
One  of  them  assured  me  that  they  felt  as  if  their 
arms  were  paralyzed.  A  number  of  braves  under- 
took to  throw  him  down  a  cavern  by  which  he  had 
to  pass,  but  when  he  appeared  and  calmly  asked 
them  why  they  wished  to  kill  him,  and  what  evil 
he  had  done,  and  if  he  was  not  their  best  friend, 
the  would-be  murderers  hung  their  heads  in  con- 
fusion and  shame,  and,  instead  of  their  killing 
him,  he  preached  the  Gospel  to  them. 


46  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Other  teachers  soon  arrived  to  assist  Pao,  but 
they  do  not  appear  to  have  taken  a  very  active 
part  in  the  evangeHzation  of  the  island.  Un- 
fortunately, soon  after  their  arrival  an  epidemic 
broke  out,  carrying  off  many  of  the  people,  among 
them  some  of  the  chiefs.  The  new  teachers 
were  blamed  for  having  brought  it,  and  there 
was  a  cry  for  their  death  or  banishment.  Can- 
nibal Charlie  knew  that  either  he  or  the  teachers 
would  have  to  leave  the  island,  and,  seeing  his  op- 
portunity, joined  in  the  cry  for  their  banishment. 
But  the  king,  tho  blind,  and  still  a  heathen  and 
cannibal,  remained  true  to  his  Raratongan  friend 
till  his  death,  which  occurred  soon  after.  Then 
the  storm  which  had  been  gathering  burst  over  the 
devoted  Pao  and  his  little  company  of  converts, 
and  he,  with  the  other  teachers,  was  obliged  to 
escape  to  Mare. 

The  son  of  old  Bula,  who  succeeded  his  father, 
was  not  long  after  this  defeated  by  his  enemies 
and  obliged  to  flee  for  his  life.  This  defeat  of 
the  king's  party  was  regarded  by  Pao's  friends 
as  a  judgment  upon  them  for  their  hypocrisy. 
In  the  midst  of  these  troubles  Pao,  accompanied 
by  a  few  influential  natives  from  Mare,  re-visited 
Lifu;  but  he  was  received  with  hostile  demon- 
strations, and  owed  his  safety,  no  doubt,  to  the 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIEU  47 

influence  of  his  Mare  friends.  His  faithful  few 
urged  him  to  return  to  Mare  for  a  Httle  longer 
and  again  he  put  to  sea,  with  a  sad,  perplexed 
heart.  He  had  to  learn  that  our  work  is  to  sur- 
round the  walls  of  idolatry  and  blow  the  Gospel 
trumpet;  God  will  do  the  rest.  Pao's  trumpet 
had  given  no  uncertain  sound  on  Lifu;  the  blasts 
had  been  long  and  loud,  and  had  echoed  through 
every  village  on  the  island;  now  he  was  to  retire 
till  God  threw  down  the  walls  that  stood  between 
him  and  his  work. 

The  change  that  took  place  in  the  minds  of 
Pao's  enemies  was  remarkable  for  its  suddenness 
and  completeness.  They  felt  the  truth  of  what 
he  had  said  about  their  desolating  wars;  they 
heard  with  interest  the  glowing  accounts  of  the 
transformation  effected  on  Mare  by  the  Gospel; 
they  were  losing  confidence  in  their  gods,  and 
becoming  more  and  more  afraid  of  "Jehovah." 
The  little  band  that  Pao  had  left  behind  were  also 
zealous  in  disseminating  as  much  of  the  truth  as 
they  knew,  so  that  a  few  months  after  Pao  left 
Lifu,  messengers  arrived  at  Mare  earnestly  begging 
him  to  return  and  assuring  him  that  those  who  had 
formerly  been  his  enemies  were  ready  to  receive 
him  with  open  arms. 

Pao's  spirit  was  stirred  within  him  when  he  re- 


48  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

ceived  this  news  and  his  canoe  was  soon  launched 
again,  his  mat-sail  unfurled,  and  he  and  his  com- 
panions flying  before  a  trade-wind  to  the  seat  of 
his  labors.  He  was  received  with  unmistakable 
demonstrations  of  joy  by  the  people  when  he 
landed.  The  wall  had,  indeed,  fallen  down  flat, 
and  all  that  he  and  his  friends  had  to  do  was 
to  go  straight  before  them  and  take  the  city. 

Temporary  buildings  w^ere  erected  in  which 
regular  services  were  conducted,  and  these  were 
numerously  attended.  Schools  were  also  estab- 
lished; and  very  soon  some  of  the  natives,  to  the 
astonishment  of  their  friends,  could  name  any 
letter  in  Pao's  New  Testament.  The  wonderful 
change  taking  place  in  the  L  si  district,  where  Bula 
was  supreme,  became  the  talk  of  their  enemies  on 
the  other  side  of  the  island,  the  Wet  district,  where 
Ukenizo  was  the  great  chief. 

One  of  the  most  influential  of  the  heathen 
priests,  or  sacred  men,  in  the  Wet  district  received 
a  message  from  a  friendly  priest  in  the  Losi  dis- 
trict, informing  him  that  they  were  all  going  to 
embrace  the  new  religion,  and  urging  him  to  adopt 
the  same  course.  This  priest,  who  had  already 
heard  much  in  favor  of  Christianity,  declared  his 
readiness  to  receive  Pao  and  hear  what  he  had 
to  say.     Pao  regarded  this  open  door  as  providen- 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIEU  49 

tial,  and  determined  to  enter  at  once  with  the 
Word  of  Life.  When  he  made  known  his  inten- 
tion many  of  his  followers  strongly  opposed  it, 
declaring  that  he  would  be  killed  by  their  enemies. 
Others,  who  began  to  comprehend  better  the  de- 
sign of  the  Gospel,  were  anxious  that  the  Wet 
people  should  embrace  it,  and  thus  end  their  wars. 
All,  however,  agreed,  that  if  he  went,  he  should  be 
well  escorted.  In  vain  did  Pao  assure  them  that 
his  God  would  protect  him  as  He  had  done  before. 
They  seemed  to  think  that  neither  he  nor  his  God 
knew  the  character  of  their  enemies  half  so  well 
as  they  did.  The  result  was  that  a  large  number  of 
armed  men  accompanied  him  to  the  village  of  the 
heathen  priest.  Haneka  heard  all  he  had  to  say, 
declared  himself  a  Christian,  and  delivered  up 
his  gods  to  Pao.  He  then  accompanied  them  to 
the  great  chief  Ukenizo,  who,  hearing  of  their 
approach,  and  fearing  an  attack,  had  two  parties 
placed  in  ambush  near  his  house  for  protection. 
Altho  no  disturbance  took  place,  the  interview 
was  too  martial  and  Mohammedan-like  to  be  pro- 
ductive of  much  real  good. 

The  kins  declared  himself  satisfied  with  the 
gods  of  his  fathers,  and  openly  avowed  his  in- 
tention to  live  and  die  a  heathen.  For, a  time 
Haneka  was  the  onlv  man  in  Wet  who  dared  to 


50  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

become  a  Christian.  He  was  a  man  of  so  great 
influence  that  even  the  great  chief  Ukenizo  was 
afraid  of  him;  and  his  son,  an  energetic,  fearless 
man  about  thirty  years  of  age,  joined  his  father, 
and  became  a  means  of  communication  between 
Haneka  and  Pao.  This  man  was  most  indefat- 
igable; he  seemed  by  his  frequent  intercourse  with 
Pao  to  imbibe  his  spirit,  and  became  really  the 
evangelist  of  Wet,  carrying  Pao's  messages  from 
village  to  village,  and  running  ofi^  to  him  with 
every  hard  question  or  difficulty.  Numbers  flocked 
to  old  Haneka  at  his  home  to  learn  about  the  new 
religion,  and  wherever  his  son,  Tubaisi,  went  they 
gathered  round  him  to  hear  and  become  converts. 

It  was  not  long  before  Pao  had  adherents  in 
almost  every  village  in  Wet,  he  himself  paying 
them  personal  visits  as  often  as  he  could,  altho 
his  life  was  frequently  in  great  danger. 

It  soon  became  a  question  with  Pao  where  he 
should  settle  as  his  headquarters  and  the  spirit  of 
the  man  was  shown  in  his  choice.  All  wanted  him, 
and  the  natives  of  the  two  districts  very  nearly 
came  to  blows  on  the  subject.  He  settled  the 
question  by  building  his  house  on  the  battlefield 
between  the  two  districts.  No  coconut-tree,  nor 
indeed  food  of  any  kind,  was  ever  allowed  to  grow 
there.     The  idea  of  establishing  a   village    at  We 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  51 

was  quite  amusing  to  the  heathen  party,  and  even 
Pao's  followers  looked  upon  the  undertaking  as 
hopeless.  Soon,  however,  a  neat  little  cottage 
stood  by  the  roadside  on  that  dreary  plain.  So 
extraordinary  a  phenomenon  was  the  subject  of 
general  conversation  and  astonishment,  and  there 
were  but  a  few  who  believed  that  it  would  be 
allowed  to  remain.  It  certainly  did  not  remain 
alone  very  long.  Natives  from  the  extremity  of 
both  districts  gathered  around  Pao;  houses  were 
erected,  groves  of  coconut-trees  planted,  and  ere 
long  it  became  the  talk  of  the  island  that  bananas 
were  to  be  seen  growing  on  the  roadside  at  We, 
and  even  bunches  of  ripe  ones  were  allowed  to 
remain  on  the  trees.  Here  was  a  telling  fact  in 
favor  of  Christianity.  The  settlement  soon  became 
a  populous  and  flourishing  village,  with  a  neat 
lath-and-plaster  church  in  its  center,  glistening 
among  the  coconut  and  banana  trees,  a  pleasing 
illustration  of  the  fulfilment  of  Isaiah's  prophecy: 
"The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be 
glad  for  them;  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  a  rose." 

The  success  of  Pao  spelt  failure  to  Cannibal 
Charlie;  even  among  the  heathen  his  influence 
gradually  waned.  He  knew  that  cannibalism 
and  all  the  dark  deeds  of  heathenism  were  doomed, 


52  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

and  as  he  desired  to  continue  the  sort  of  life  he 
had  adopted,  he  embraced  the  opportunity  offered 
by  a  vessel  calling  at  Lifu  on  its  way  to  the  Fiji 
Islands,  and  leaving  his  harem  and  infamous 
example  behind,  he  settled  among  the  notorious 
cannibals  of  Fiji,  where  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life.     And  what  a  life! 

During  the  illness  from  which  Pao  did  not 
recover,  he  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  make  his 
will  (!)  in  my  presence.  Altho  he  was  twenty 
miles  from  the  place  where  I  was  living,  I  started 
at  once,  to  show  the  Lifuans  my  respect  for  him. 
Arriving  in  the  evening,  I  presented  myself  at  his 
bedside  to  receive  his  commands  about  the  disposal 
of  his  property,  which  consisted  of  a  scanty  ward- 
robe and  a  few  carpenter's  tools,  all  of  which 
were  well  worn.  However,  with  Pao,  the  business 
was  as   serious  as  if  he    had    been  a  millionaire. 

He  had  a  wife  and  two  little  daughters;  one  of 
the  latter  he  disinherited  altogether  because  she 
,  had  not  been  attentive  to  him  during  his  illness, 
perferring  the  playground  to  the  sick-chamber. 
I  remonstrated,  but  he  remained  firm.  He  then 
charged  me  to  see  that  the  following  distribution 
was  made  of  his  property: 

To  a  friend  at  Aitutaki — An  old  black  cloth 
coat,  the  best  he  had. 


THE  APOSTLE  OF  LIFU  53 

To  a  native  of  Raratonga — A  carpenter's 
brace  and  bits. 

To  another  friend  of  the  same  island — A  large 
auger. 

To  his  wife — Her  own  box,  containing  two 
dresses  and  a  piece  of  calico. 

To  the  younger  daughter — The  remainder  of 
his  property,  which  consisted  of  a  few  carpenter's 
tools,  all  of  which  were  specified;  also  what  clothes 
remained  after  his  burial  suit  has  been  provided. 

He  desired  me  to  see  that  his  wife  and  children 
went  to  Raratonga  by  the  John  Williams.  Then 
he  died  happy. 

Thus  passed  away  the  apostle  of  Lifu — more 
like  an  apostle  than  many  of  us.  What  a  con- 
trast between  his  usefulness  and  will  and  those 
of  many  professing  Christians!  Pao  was  not 
qualified  for  the  steady,  systematic  duties  of  a 
settled  teacher;  his  work  was  simply  that  of  a 
pioneer.  On  two  occasions,  accompanied  by 
some  Lifu  men,  he  crossed  over  to  New  Caledonia 
in  a  canoe,  and  sought  to  introduce  the  Gospel  to 
those  savage  cannibals.  His  death  was  mourned  by 
the  whole  population,  and  so  great  was  the  respect 
for  his  memory  that  many  years  after  his  death  the 
natives  and  foreigners  united  in  raising  a  monu- 
ment to  commemorate  his  life  and  labors  at  Lifu. 


Chapter  IV 

TITUS  CO  AN  AND  THE  PENTECOST  AT, 

HILO 

BY 

Rev.  Arthur  T.  Pierson,  D.D. 
Editor-in-chief  of  the  Missionary  Review  of  the 
World,  Author  of  "The  Miracles  of  Missions,"  etc. 


m 

i 

i 

^Bffl 

j^^WSfc-  ■*'^^^^^B 

\--: 

■.•^./ 

t  ^ 

^V^^<%i9i 

Chapter  IV 

TITUS  COAN  AND  THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO 

A  LL  things  considered,  no  more  phenomenal 
results  have  been  recorded  in  the  history  of 
missions  than  are  supplied  by  the  work  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  Every  period  from  their 
discovery  to  their  annexation  to  the  United  States 
overflows  with  elements  surprising  and  almost 
startling. 

The  location  of  this  group  is  peculiar  in  the  ex- 
treme. In  the  boundless  expanse  of  the  Pacific, 
it  lies  isolated  and  remote  from  all  continents  and 
islands,  being  2100  miles  southwest  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 2400  miles  north  of  Tahiti,  3440  miles 
from  Yokohama,  and  2400  miles  from  Hongkong. 
Situated  thus,  "at  the  crossroads  of  the  Pacific," 
it  is  near  the  center  of  commerce  between  British 
Columbia,  California,  Nicaragua,  and  Panama  on 
the  east,  and  Japan,  China,  New  Zealand,  and 
Australia  on  the  west  and  south.  The  position  in 
space  is  marvelously  strategic,  no  substitution  or 
rivalry  bemg  possible. 

The  islands,  eight  in  number,  are  of  no  incon- 

>7 


58  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

siderable  size,  having  a  total  area  of  6640  square 
miles,  or  almost  as  large  as  New  Jersey,  while 
the  largest,  with  its  4210  square  miles,  has  an 
area  about  the  size  of  Connecticut.  Much  of  the 
soil  is  unfit  for  cultivation,  but  such  as  is  arable  is 
exceedingly  productive.  The  climate  is  well-nigh 
ideal,  the  mercury  seldom  rising  above  90°,  or 
sinking  below  60°,  with  an  average  of  70°  to  80°, 
and  cool  trade-winds  almost  constantly  blowing. 
A  population  of  1,000,000  is  easily  possible,  and 
is  also  likely  at  no  distant  day. 

It  was  seemingly  by  accident  that  the  "Sand- 
wich Islands"  were  discovered  by  Captain  Cook 
when  he  was  engaged  in  his  fruitless  attempt  to 
find  a  northeast  passage  from  Behring  Straits  to 
Bafiin  Bay.  For  about  forty  years  this  group  was 
visited  only  by  vessels  in  search  for  sandalwood, 
or  those  on  their  way  to  and  from  the  North 
Pacific  in  quest  of  whales  or  furs,  not  seldom  re- 
maining also  during  the  winter  season.  Many 
of  the  sailors  were  of  the  very  vilest,  and  their 
presence  was  often  accompanied  by  the  most 
shameless  and  loathsome  debauchery,  which  re- 
sulted in  forms  of  disease  so  deadly  as  to  decimate 
the  population  and  probably  doom  the  entire 
race  to  eventual  extinction. 

From  time  immemorial  each  island  had  been 


THE  PENTECOST  \T  HILO  59 

ruled  by  a  chief  of  its  own,  but  not  long  after  the 
visit  of  Captain  Cook,  Kamehameha,  one  of  the 
strongest  and  most  enterprising  of  these,  made 
war  upon  one  after  another,  and  finally,  in  1810, 
became  undisputed  head  of  the  entire  group.  This 
put  an  end  to  the  desolating  wars  which  hitherto 
had  been  almost  constant,  and  made  an  important 
preparation  for  the  introduction  of  the  Gospel. 

Trading  vessels  came  to  these  shores  to  obtain 
the  sandalwood,  used  for  incense  to  the  idols  in 
Chinese  temples;  and  thus  these  idolaters  con- 
tributed to  idolatry  elsewhere.  The  features  com- 
mon to  idolatry  were  found  among  the  Hawaiians, 
and  human  sacrifices  were  customary,  especially 
in  case  of  the  sickness  of  a  monarch;  and,  when 
Kamehameha  would  not  peimit  them,  three  hun- 
dred dogs  were  oflPered  at  his  funeral  obsequies. 
The  islands  were  filled  with  wailings;  the  people 
shaved  their  heads,  burned  themselves,  knocked 
out  their  front  teeth,  and  both  sexes,  young  and 
old,  gave  free  rein  to  their  evil  passions,  in  robbery, 
lust,  and  murder. 

Idolatry  in  Hawaii  was  of  the  lower  order;  the 
idols  were  of  their  own  making,  roughly  and  hid- 
eously carved  in  wood  and  in  stone.  Again  were 
the  significant  words  of  Scripture  fulfilled :  "  They 
that   make   them    are    like    unto   them,"    for   the 


6o  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Hawaiians  had  become  almost  as  stupid  and  sense- 
less as  the  images  they  worshipped. 

Kilauea,  the  great  volcano,  was  among  their 
gods.  Its  crater  is  4000  feet  above  sea-level,  and 
10,000  feet  distant  is  another  active  crater,  not 
connected  with  this,  which  is  three  miles  in 
diameter.  Jets  of  scalding  steam  rose  from  crev- 
ices all  over  the  field,  and  the  burning  lake  rose 
and  fell  as  the  mighty  power  beneath  heaved  the 
molten  mass,  which  every  now  and  then  swelled 
into  a  vast  dome,  or  was  tossed  up  in  jets  from  60 
to  80  feet  high.  Here  the  god  Pele  was  adored 
with  prayers  and  offerings.  When  the  volcano 
poured  forth  its  rivers  of  fire  it  was  believed  that 
the  wrath  of  Pele  was  no  longer  to  be  restrained ; 
and  when  the  seething  crater  was  comparatively 
quiet,  he  was  appeased.  Kalaipahoa,  the  poison 
god,  was  made  of  wood,  curiously  carved  into 
hideous  deformity;  and  no  idol  was  so  dreaded 
save  the  deities  believed  to  preside  over  volcanoes. 
All  deaths  from  poison  were  traced  to  his  malign 
power,  and  even  the  wood  of  his  image  was  be- 
lieved to  be  death-dealing. 

The  war  god,  Tairi,  was  borne  in  war  near  the 
king's  person.  It  was  about  two  feet  high,  made 
of  wickerwork,  covered  with  red  feathers,  and 
having  a  hideous  mouth.     Lono,  another  of  the 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO         6i 

popular  and  powertul  idols,  consisted  simply  of 
a  pole  with  a  small  head  on  the  end,  probably 
carried  in  battle.  One  of  the  largest  temples, 
dedicated  to  this  god,  was  over  200  feet  long  and 
100  feet  broad.  It  was  built  of  lava  stones,  and 
upon  it  stood  the  idol,  surrounded  by  images 
of  inferior  deities.  This  temple  still  stands,  a 
melancholy  monument  to  what  the  Hawaiians 
once  were.  There  was  the  court  of  idol  deities; 
there  they  met  for  superstitious  worship  and 
licentious  festivals.  There  they  poured  out  human 
blood  and  burned  the  flesh  and  fat  of  human 
sacrifices,  every  humane  instinct  blotted  from 
their  natures  by  ages  of  increasing  degradation 
and  deterioration. 

No  intelligent  view  of  the  heathenism  of  the 
Hawaiians  can  be  had  without  a  knowledge  of 
the  tabu  system  of  restrictions  and  prohibitions, 
inseparable  from  the  national  idolatry,  and  em- 
bracing sacred  places,  persons,  and  things.  To 
violate  these  restrictions  was  a  capital  offence. 
A  husband  could  not  eat  with  his  wife,  nor  could 
women  eat  certain  choice  articles  of  food;  and 
those  whose  high  social  position  could  defy  the 
death  penalty  were  threatened  with  the  wrath  of 
the  gods.  What  was  enjoined  or  prohibited  was 
more    tvrannically    trivial    than   the    injunctions 


62  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

of  the  ancient  Pharisaic  code;  yet  their  very  insig- 
nificance made  them  more  intolerably  oppressive. 
The  tabu  laws  left  the  people  at  the  mercy  of  a 
corrupt  priesthood,  and  under  a  yoke  of  the  most 
galling  servitude,  destroying  personal  liberty. 

Ignorance  of  course  prevailed.  The  Hawai- 
ians  knew  not  the  meaning  of  a  grammar,  a  dic- 
tionary, or  a  literature,  and  the  simplest  operations 
of  arithmetic  were  inexplicable  mysteries.  Ig- 
norance is  the  mother  of  superstition  as  it  is  the 
twin  sister  of  idolatry.  The  ignorance  of  the 
Hawaiians  was  as  extreme  as  their  idolatry  w^as 
degrading.  They  were  savages  without  the  Gospel. 
They  lived  in  grass  huts,  and  were  almost  destitute 
of  clothing;  the  arts  and  sciences  were  unknown 
to  them  beyond  those  which  are  most  primitive 
and  essential  to  the  preservation  of  life.  Even 
language  often  shows  the  degrading  influence  of 
idolatry.  As  a  people  sink  into  depths  of  moral 
ruin,  they  lose  higher  and  more  spiritual  ideas, 
until  they  have  no  longer  any  words  with  w^hich 
to  associate  elevated  and  ennobling  sentiments. 
The  missionaries  to  the  Pacific  Isles  found  no 
word  to  express  thanks,  as  tho  gratitude  were 
unknown;  and  many  other  instances  might  be 
given  showing  the  influence  of  heathenism  upon 
language. 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  63 

The  influence  of  superstition  could  be  seen  con- 
spicuously in  the  treatment  of  disease  by  native 
doctors,  and  the  apprehension  of  being  prayed 
to  death,  implying  a  belief  in  a  species  of  witch- 
craft. The  most  absurd  and  foolish  notions  had 
all  the  importance  of  most  certain  facts  and  most 
weighty  issues.  The  people  lived  in  terror  of 
their  own  thoughts,  and  malignant  influences 
were  believed  to  be  all  about  them,  shaping  them 
and  their  destinies  as  by  an  inexorable  fate. 

There  was  in  those  days  one  ruler  in  the  islands, 
and  his  word  was  law,  and  his  beck  determined 
life  and  death.  If  a  chief  placed  a  stick  of  sugar- 
cane in  the  corner  of  a  field,  not  even  the  owner 
himself  dared  take  his  own  crop  away.  If  a 
person  refused  to  obey  his  chief,  or  perform  any 
service,  his  house  might  be  burned,  and  his  family 
left  destitute.  Hawaiians  were  ruled  with  a  rod 
of  iron. 

Infanticide  was  also  the  fatal  plant  growing 
in  the  death  shade  to  destroy  the  very  existence 
of  the  nation.  With  the  exception  of  the  higher 
classof  chiefs  it  was  practised  by  all  ranks  of  the 
people.  Few  parents  spared  more  than  two  or 
three  children,  and  many  allowed  no  more  than 
one  to  live.  Shortly  after  birth,  or  during  the 
first    year,     two-thirds    of    the     native    children 


64  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

actually  died  a  violent  death;  and  many 
different  methods  were  used,  some  of  which 
proved  fatal  to  the  mother  also.  Having  failed, 
through  lack  of  a  "higher  civilization,"  to  under- 
stand the  modes  of  prenatal  murder  so  common  in 
Christian  lands,  the  poor  Hawaiians  had  no 
alternative  but  to  permit  nature  to  bring  to 
birth,  and  then  to  strangle  or  bury  the  children 
alive.  Think  of  a  mother  thrusting  into  the 
mouth  of  a  helpless  babe  a  piece  of  tapa  to  stop  its 
cries,  then  deliberately  digging  a  hole  in  the 
earthy  floor  of  her  hut  within  a  few  yards  of  her 
bed,  and  of  the  spot  where  she  ateher  daily  bread, 
and  there  burying  alive  her  own  child!  And  for 
no  other  motive  than  to  indulge  indolence,  or 
save  the  trouble  of  bringing  the  child  up!  Parents 
were  wont  thus  to  put  out  of  the  way  not  only 
weak  and  sickly  children,  but  even  the  brightest 
and  healthiest.  During  the  forty  years,  between 
1778  and  18 18,  the  population  had  decreased 
from  400,000  to  150,000,  nearly  two-thirds;  so 
that  a  nation  was  saved  from  extinction  by  the 
Gospel,  for  in  twenty  years  more,  at  the  same  rate 
of  decrease,  the  Hawaiian  Islands  would  have  been 
an  uninhabited  waste. 

The  governor,  Kekuanoa  himself,  in  an  address 
at  Honolulu,  in  1841,  said: 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  65 

"There  were,  a  few  years  ago,  three  laws,  all 
designed  to  deliver  criminals  from  justice  by  the 
protecting  favor  of  the  chiefs.  Offenders  were 
not  then  brought  to  trial,  and  even  legislation  set 
a  premium  upon  crime.  Both  polygamy  and 
polyandry  were  common,  no  law  of  marriage  being 
known,  and  property  and  rank  settling  the  ques- 
tion of  the  number  of  wives  a  man  should  have  or 
the  number  of  husbands  a  woman  should  have, 
and  hence  came  the  attendant  evils  of  infanticide, 
quarrels,  and  murder. 

"The  lines  of  distinction  between  right  and 
wrong  seemed  well-nigh  obliterated.  Good  and 
evil  were  alike;  the  rights  of  others  were  not  re- 
spected; they  abused  the  maimed,  the  blind,  the 
aged,  and  the  chiefs  ground  the  poor  into  the  dust. 
Gambling,  drinking,  and  debauchery  found  in  the 
rulers  rather  their  leaders  than  their  rebukers  and 
punishers.  The  chiefs  themselves  became  rich 
by  seizing  the  property  of  their  subjects;  and  at 
the  death  of  his  father  Liholiho  made  a  law  which 
sanctioned  wholesale  rum-drinking,  dancing,  steal- 
ing, adulter}',  and  night  carousing,  consuming 
whole  nights  in  the  most  shameless  debauchery, 
and  turning  whole  villages  into  brothels." 

Modesty  there  was  none;  even  among  the  gent- 
ler sex  all  sense  of  shame  seemed  dead.    Nakedness 


66  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

brought  no  blush.  As  to  virtue,  what  chastity 
could  be  expected  where  these  barriers  were  broken 
down  ?  Parents  gave  their  daughters,  and  hus- 
bands their  wives  to  a  fate  worse  than  death  for 
the  sake  of  gain;  and  this  traffic  in  virtue  became 
a  systematic  thing  upheld  by  law  and  sanctioned 
by  universal  custom.  Every  foreign  vessel  was 
turned  into  a  floating  Sodom.  The  facts  defy 
language;  and,  if  language  could  be  found,  re- 
fined taste  would  forbid  the  repetition  of  such 
shocking  details. 

Of  course  the  whole  social  fabric  was  decayed 
and  rotten  from  the  foundation.  The  tie  of  mar- 
riage was  dependent  on  caprice.  One  day  a  man 
might  have  as  many  wives  as  he  could  feed  and 
take  care  of;  the  next  day  he  might  turn  them  all 
adrift,  as  it  suited  his  pleasure  or  fancy.  A  woman 
could  have  as  many  husbands  as  she  pleased,  and 
the  relation  was  equally  uncertain.  The  king 
himself  had  five  wives,  and  one  of  them  was  his 
father's  widow,  and  two  others  his  father's  daugh- 
ters. Each  one  had  her  day  in  which  to  serve  her 
lord,  following  him  with  a  spit  dish  and  a  fly- 
brush.  Conjugal  concord  or  afi^ection  was  as  un- 
known as  though  they  had  no  existence,  and  so  of 
parental  authority  or  aflPection,  or  filial  love  and 
obedience. 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  67 

While  this  state  of  things  prevailed  in  Hawaii 
there  was  born  in  New  England  a  boy  who  was 
destined  to  play  a  large  part  in  the  transformation 
of  these  islanders.  Among  all  miracles  of  missions 
we  know  of  none  more  suggestive  of  supernatural 
working  than  the  transformation  wrought  in  Hilo 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  by  the  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  under  the  ministry  of  Titus  Coan.t 

It  was  in  Killingv,'orth,  Connecticut,  on  Feb- 
ruary I,  1 80 1,  that  this  boy  first  saw  the  light  of 
day  in  one  of  those  New  England  homes  where 
"plain  living  and  high  thinking"  prevailed.  He 
was  educated  in  the  district  school,  and  later  in  a 
neighboring  academy  until  he  began  to  teach  at 
eighteen  years  of  age.  After  a  time  he  became 
fully  convinced  that  he  was  called  to  be  a  foreign 
missionary,  and  he  entered  Auburn  Theological 
Seminary  for  necessary  study.  Before  his  gradu- 
ation he  was  called  to  Boston  to  be  ordained  and 
sent  on  a  mission  of  exploration  to  Patagonia. 

As  there  was  no  "open  door"  in  Patagonia, 
he  returned  in  one  year,  and  taking  as  his  wife 
Fidelia  Church,  in  December,  1834,  sailed  away 
to  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

Travel  was  slow  in  those  days,  and,  with  only 

t Facts  about  the  early  life  of  Titus  Coan  are  from  a  leaflet 
bv  Mrs.  O.  W.  Scott. 


68  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

brief  stops  by  the  way,  they  did  not  reach  Honolulu 
until  the  sixth  of  June,  1835.  Mr.  Coan  then  found 
that  he  and  his  wife,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lyman, 
who  were  returning  after  a  short  absence,  were 
appointed  to  Hilo,  on  the  southeast  coast  of 
Hawaii,  which  they  finally  reached  on  June 
twenty-first. 

Words  failed  to  express  the  beauty  of  this  "gem 
of  the  ocean."  First  they  saw  a  spacious  harbor, 
its  crescent-shaped  beach  divided  by  three  streams 
of  pure  water.  Stretching  inland  to  the  bases  of 
the  mountains  the  landscape  was  arrayed  in  "living 
green."  And  such  a  wonderful  variety  of  tints! 
Plumes  of  the  lofty  coco  and  royal  palm,  rustling 
leaves  of  the  mango,  breadfruit,  tamarind,  rose- 
apple  and  other  trees  mingled  their  foliage  with 
luxurious  vines  and  many  tinted  flowers,  under 
the  bright  sun  and  soft  breezes  of  the  tropics. 
Back  of  all  rose  the  lofty,  snow-capped  mountains, 
Mauna  Kea  and  Mauna  Loa.  It  seemed  an 
earthly  paradise  compared  with  New  England, 
but  Titus  Coan  and  his  bride  found  no  New 
England  home  awaiting  them. 

Missionary  work  had  been  begun  by  a  Rev. 
Mr.  Goodrich,  but  he  soon  left  the  island,  and  into 
his  house,  the  only  frame  building  in  Hilo,  our 
friends  moved.    The  Lymans  built  a  comfortable 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  69 

home  near  them,  and,  as  they  had  been  there  two 
years  before  this,  were  able  to  teach  the  language 
to  the  eager  new-comers.  At  the  end  of  three 
months  Mr.  Coan  went  into  the  pulpit  with  his 
teacher  and  preached  his  first  sermon. 

At  thirty  years  of  age,  he  had  written  these 
words:  "Lord,  send  me  where  Thou  wilt,  only 
go  with  me;  lay  on  me  what  Thou  wilt,  only  sus- 
tain me.  Cut  any  cord  but  the  one  that  binds  me 
to  Thy  cause,  to  Thy  heart."  His  whole  life 
showed  the  same  spirit  of  consecration. 

His  missionary  parish  on  Hawaii's  eastern  shore 
was  one  hundred  miles  long,  and,  including  Hilo 
and  Puna,  contained  fifteen  thousand  natives. 
Soon  after  he  began  to  use  the  native  tongue 
he  made  his  first  evangelistic  tour  of  the  island. 
He  was  a  relative  of  Nettleton,  and  had  been  a  co- 
laborer  with  Finney;  and  from  such  men  had 
learned  what  arrows  are  best  for  a  preacher's 
quiver,  and  how  to  use  his  bow.  His  whole  being 
was  full  of  spiritual  energy  and  unction,  and  on 
his  first  tour  multitudes  flocked  to  hear,  and  many 
seemed  pricked  in  their  hearts.  The  crowds  so 
thronged  him  and  followed  him  that,  like  his 
Master,  he  had  no  leisure,  so  much  as  to  eat.  One 
day  he  preached  three  times  before  he  had  time 
to  breakfast.     He  was  wont  to  go  on  four  or  five 


70  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

tours  a  year,  and  saw  tokens  of  interest  that  im- 
pressed him  with  so  strange  a  sense  of  the  presence 
of  God  that  he  said  Httle  about  them  and  scarcely 
understood  them  himself.  He  could  only  say,  "  It 
was  wonderful."  He  went  about  like  Jeremiah, 
with  the  fire  of  the  Lord  in  his  bones;  weary  with 
forbearing,  he  could  not  stay. 

There  were  in  Hilo  no  roads,  bridges  or  horses, 
so  that  the  missionary  was  obliged  to  make  his 
tours  on  foot.  His  trail  was  a  winding  path, 
leading  up  and  down  the  mountains  over  danger- 
ous precipices,  and  through  streams  which  often 
becarrie  rushing  torrents.  Of  some  of  his  expe- 
riences Mr.  Coan  says: 

"  I  had  several  ways  of  crossing  the  streams. 
First,  when  the  waters  were  low  and  the  rocks  bare, 
I  leaped  from  rock  to  rock  with  the  help  of  a  stout 
stick.  Second,  when  they  were  not  too  deep,  I 
waded.  Third,  when  too  swift,  I  mounted  upon 
the  shoulders  of  a  sturdy,  aquatic  native,  holding 
on  by  his  bushy  hair,  while  he  crept  down  the 
slippery  bank  and  moved  slowly  among  the 
slimy  boulders  until,  after  a  perilous  trip,  he 
landed  me  safe,  with  a  shout  and  a  laugh,  on  the 
opposite  bank.** 

Several  times  Mr.  Coan  narrowly  escaped 
death,  but  he  was  fearless  in  his  work  and  loving 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  71 

in  his  dealing  with  the  natives,  so  that  they  came 
to  love  and  trust  him. 

In  1837  the  slumbering  fires  broke  out.  Nearly 
the  whole  population  became  an  audience,  and 
those  who  could  not  come  to  the  services  were 
brought  on  the  backs  of  others  or  on  their  beds. 
Mr.  Coan  found  himself  ministering  to  all  of  the 
fifteen  thousand  people  who  were  scattered  along 
the  hundred  miles  of  coast.  He  longed  to  be  able 
to  fly,  that  he  might  get  over  the  ground,  or  to  be 
able  to  multiply  himself  twentyfold  so  that  he 
might  reach  the  multitudes  who  fainted  for  spiritual 
food. 

Necessity  devises  new  methods.  He  bade  those 
to  whom  he  could  not  go  to  come  to  him,  and  for 
a  mile  around  the  people  settled  down.  Hilo's 
little  population  of  a  thousand  swelled  tenfold, 
and  here  was  held  a  two  years*  colossal  "camp- 
meeting."  There  was  not  an  hour,  day  or  night, 
when  an  audience  of  from  two  thousand  to  six 
thousand  would  not  rally  at  the  signal  of  the  bell. 

There  was  no  disorder,  and  the  camp  became  a 
sort  of  industrial  school,  where  gardening,  mat- 
braiding,  and  bonnet-making  were  taught,  in 
addition  to  purely  religious  truth.  These  great 
"protracted  meetings"  crowded  the  old  church 
with  six  thousand,  and  a  newer  building  with  half 


72  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

as  many  more;  and  when  the  people  were  seated, 
they  were  so  close  that  until  the  meeting  broke  up 
no  one  could  move.  The  preacher  did  not  hesitate 
to  proclaim  stern  truths.  The  law  with  its  awful 
perfection;  hell,  with  its  anguish,  of  which  the 
crater  of  Kilauea  and  the  volcanoes  about  them 
might  well  furnish  a  vivid  picture;  the  deep  and 
damning  guilt  of  sin;  the  hopelessness  and  help- 
lessness of  spiritual  death — such  truths  as  these 
prepared  the  way  for  the  Gospel  of  love  with  its 
invitation  and  appeal.  The  vast  audience  swayed 
as  cedars  before  a  tornado.  There  was  trembling, 
weeping,  sobbing  and  loud  crying  for  mercy, 
sometimes  too  loud  for  the  preacher  to  be  heard; 
and  in  hundreds  of  cases  his  hearers  would  fall  in 
a  swoon. 

Titus  Coan  was  made  for  the  work  God  had  for 
him,  and  he  controlled  the  great  masses.  He 
preached  with  great  simplicity,  illustrating  and 
applying  the  grand  old  truths;  made  no  effort  to 
excite,  but  rather  to  allay  excitement,  and  asked 
for  no  external  manifestation  of  interest.  He  de- 
pended on  the  Word,  borne  home  by  the  Spirit; 
and  the  Spirit  wrought.  Some  would  cry  out, 
"The  two-edged  sword  is  cutting  me  to  pieces." 
A  wicked  scoffer,  who  came  to  make  sport,  dropped 
like  a  log  and  said,  "God  has  struck  me."    Once, 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  73 

while  preaching  in  the  open  field  to  two  thousand 
people,  a  man  cried  out,  "What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved?"  and  prayed  the  publican's  prayer;  and 
the  entire  congregation  took  up  the  cry  for  mercy. 
For  a  half  hour  Mr.  Coan  had  no  chance  to  speak, 
but  was  obliged  to  stand  still  and  see  God  work. 
There  were  greater  signs  of  the  Spirit  than  mere 
words  of  agony  or  confession.  Godly  repentance 
was  at  work — quarrels  were  reconciled,  drunkards 
abandoned  drink,  thieves  restored  stolen  property, 
adulteries  gave  place  to  purity,  and  murders  were 
confessed.  The  high  priest  of  Pele,  the  custodian 
of  her  crater  shrine,  who  by  his  glance  could  doom 
a  native  to  strangulation,  and  on  whose  shadow 
no  Hawaiian  dared  tread,  who  ruthlessly  struck 
men  dead  for  their  food  or  garments'  sake,  and 
robbed  and  outraged  human  beings  for  a  pastime — 
this  gigantic  criminal  came  into  the  meetings 
with  his  sister,  the  priestess,  and  even  such  as 
they  found  there  an  irresistible  power.  With, 
bitter  tears  and  penitent  confession,  the  crimes  of 
this  minister  of  idolatry  were  unearthed.  He 
acknowledged  that  what  he  had  worshipped  was 
no  god  at  all,  and  publicly  renounced  his  idolatry 
and  bowed  before  Jesus  Christ.  These  two  had 
spent  about  seventy  years  in  sin,  but  till  death 
maintained  their  Christian  confession. 


74  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

In  1838  the  converts  continued  to  multiply. 
The  but  two  missionaries,  a  lay  preacher 
and  their  wives  constituted  the  force,  the  work 
was  done  with  power  because  God  was  in  it  all. 
Mr.  Coan's  trips  were  first  of  all  for  preaching, 
and  he  spoke  on  the  average  from  three  to  four 
times  a  day;  but  these  public  appeals  were  inter- 
laced with  visits  of  a  pastoral  nature  at  the  homes 
of  the  people,  and  the  searching  inquiry  into  their 
state.  This  marvelous  man  kept  track  of  his 
immense  parish,  and  knew  a  church-membership 
of  five  thousand  as  thoroughly  as  when  it  num- 
bered one  hundred.  He  never  lost  individual 
knowledge  and  contact  in  all  this  huge  increase. 
What  a  model  to  modern  pastors,  who  magnify 
preaching  but  have  "no  time  to  visit"!  It  was 
part  of  his  plan  that  not  one  living  person  in  all 
Puna  or  Hilo  should  fail  to  have  the  Gospel 
brought  repeatedly  to  the  conscience,  and  he  did 
not  spare  himself  any  endeavor  or  exposure  to 
reach  the  people. 

He  set  converted  people  to  work,  and  above 
forty  of  them  visited  from  house  to  house,  within 
five  miles  of  the  central  station.  The  results  were 
simply  incredible,  but  they  were  attested  abun- 
dantly. 

In  1838  and  1839,  after  great  care  in  examining 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  75 

and  testing  candidates,  during  the  twelve  months 
ending  in  June,  1839,  5244  persons  had  been 
received  into  the  Church.  On  one  Sabbath  1705 
were  baptized,  and  2400  sat  down  together  at  the 
Lord's  table.  It  was  a  gathering  of  villages,  and 
the  head  of  each  village  came  forward  with  his 
selected  converts.  With  the  exception  of  one 
such  scene  at  Ongole,  India,  just  forty  years 
later,  probably  no  such  a  sight  has  been  witnessed 
since  the  Day  of  Pentecost.  What  a  scene  was 
that  when  nearly  twenty-five  hundred  sat  down 
to  eat  together  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  what  a 
gathering!  "The  old,  the  decrepit,  the  lame,  the 
blind,  the  maimed,  the  withered,  the  paralytic, 
and  those  afflicted  with  divers  diseases  and  tor- 
ments; those  with  eyes,  noses,  lips,  and  limbs 
consumed  with  the  fire  of  their  own  or  their  parents' 
former  lusts,  with  features  distorted  and  figures 
the  most  depraved  and  loathsome;  and  these 
came  hobbling  upon  their  staves,  and  led  or  borne 
by  their  friends;  and  among  this  throng  the  hoary 
priests  of  idolatry,  with  hands  but  recently  washed 
from  the  blood  of  human  victims,  together  with 
the  thief,  the  adulterer,  the  Sodomite,  the  sorcerer, 
the  robber,  the  murderer,  and  the  mother — no, 
the  monster — whose  hands  have  reeked  in  the 
blood  of  her  own  children.     These  all  meet  before 


76  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  cross  of  Christ,  with  their  enmity  slain  and 
themselves  washed  and  sanctified,  and  justified 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  by  the  Spirit 
of  our  God." 

During  the  five  years  ending  June,  184I,  7557 
persons  were  received  into  the  Church  at  Hilo,  or 
three-fourths  of  the  whole  adult  population  of 
the  parish.  When  Titus  Coan  left  Hilo,  in  1870, 
he  had  himself  received  and  baptized  11, 960 
persons. 

These  people  held  fast  the  faith,  only  one  in 
sixty  becoming  amenable  to  discipline.  There 
was  not  a  grog-shop  in  that  whole  parish,  and 
the  Sabbath  was  better  kept  than  in  New  England. 

Mrs.  Coan  opened  a  boarding  school  for  girls 
in  1838,  the  people  again  gladly  building  a  house 
"the  like  of  which  was  never  seen  before  or  since." 
When  the  children  had  no  paper  or  slates,  a  square 
of  banana  leaf  and  a  stick  made  an  outfit!  At  this 
time  the  Bible  and  a  few  text  books  were  all  that 
had  been  translated  into  the  Hawaiian.  The 
schools,  of  which  several  were  soon  organized, 
had  a  pleasant  custom  of  meeting  for  social  en- 
joyment. The  children,  dressed  in  uniform  and 
marching  to  music,  went  through  simple  exercises, 
and  often  sang  songs  composed  by  the  natives 
themselves,  the  day  closing  with  a  feast  for  all. 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  tj 

The  first  church  buildings  were  not  substantial 
and  soon  grew  shabby;  so  in  1840  they  decided 
to  build  a  frame  church.  All  the  men  who  had 
axes  went  into  the  forest  to  cut  and  hew  the  timber. 
Then  hundreds  of  men  and  women  went  to  bring 
it  in.  The  captain  arranged  them  in  two  lines, 
bark  ropes  in  hand,  and  gave  the  command :  "Grasp 
the  ropes,  bow  the  head,  blister  the  hand,  go, 
sweat!"  and  away  they  rushed  over  rocks  and 
streams  till  they  heard  the  welcome  cry:  "Halt, 
drop  drag-ropes,  rest!" 

Such  strenuous  exertion — which  may  hold  a 
lesson  for  us — was  duly  rewarded  in  the  completion 
of  the  first  frame  church  in  Hilo.  It  would 
seat  two  thousand  on  the  earth  floor. 

Very  early  in  their  Christian  life  Mr.  Coan 
taught  his  people  to  be  benevolent.  At  first 
their  gifts  were  a  little  arrowroot,  dried  fish,  or  a 
stick  of  firewood;  but  when  money  came  into 
circulation  they  gave  as  freely  of  it.  The  custom 
was  to  have  each  donor  come  to  the  pulpit  and 
place  his  gift  on  a  table.  Mr.  Coan  wrote  that 
he  had  seen  mothers  bring  their  babes,  or  lead 
their  toddling  children,  that  these  little  ones 
might  deposit  a  coin  upon  the  table.  If  at  first 
the  child  clung  to  the  shining  silver,  the  mother 
would  shake  the  baby's  hand  to  make  it  let  go 


78  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

its  hold.  In  those  prosperous  days  the  collections 
often  amounted  to  ^200  in  one  month.  Thus 
developed  a  fine  missionary  spirit,  and  from  this 
and  other  Hawaiian  churches  missionaries  were 
sent  to  the  Marquesas  Islands.  Then  they  planned 
a  mission  to  Micronesia  in  connection  with  the 
American  Board.  But  for  this  they  needed  a  ship 
that  could  be  used  for  missionary  purposes  alone. 
So  to  Titus  Coan  belongs  the  honor  of  suggesting 
that  the  children  of  the  United  States  build  the 
vessel — the  first  Morning  Star.  The  children  of 
Hilo  gave  freely  for  this  ship,  and  it  was  a  glad 
day  for  Hilo  when  on  the  seventh  of  July,  1857, 
the  cry:  "Hokuao!  (Morning  Star)  Hokuao!" 
echoed  and  re-echoed  from  hill  and  valley.  Mul- 
titudes of  children  awoke  and  ran  shouting  to  the 
shore.  Away  in  the  east  floated  the  beautiful 
ship.  Its  flag  flying,  a  shining  star  in  its  center. 

In  the  autumn  of  1855  there  was  every  human 
probability  that  Hilo,  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
with  its  crescent  strand  and  silver  bay,  would  be 
blotted  out  beneath  a  fiery  flood  of  lava  from 
Mauna  Loa.  For  sixty-five  days  the  great  furnace 
crater  had  been  in  full  blast  belching  forth  con- 
suming fire,  and  rivers  of  resistless  liquid  flame 
had  swept  down  the  mountain  sides,  one  stream 
of  which   was  three  miles  wide  at  its    narrowest. 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  79 

spreading  at  times  into  lakes  of  fire  from  five  to 
eight  miles  broad.  In  the  hardening  crust  there 
were  frequent  vents  from  ten  to  one  hundred  feet 
in  diameter.  The  principal  river  of  lava  was 
sixty  miles  long  and  from  three  to  three  hundred 
feet  deep,  its  momentum  incredible,  and  its  veloc- 
ity was  said  to  be  sometimes  fourteen  miles  an 
hour.  This  devouring  river  was  rushing  madly 
toward  the  bay,  heading  directly  toward  the  site 
of  Hilo,  and  was  only  ten  miles  distant.  On  it 
came!  No  natural  obstacles  intervened  to  arrest 
its  progress.  There  was  no  reason  that  natural 
science  could  assign  why  those  billions  of  cubic 
feet  that  for  some  months  continued  to  descend 
from  the  crater,  and  in  the  same  direction  as  at 
the  first,  should  not  continue  to  push  forward 
until  the  flood  of  molten  lava  met  and  mingled  with 
the  floods  of  the  sea,  thus  utterly  destroying  the 
town.  But  tho  the  molten  lava  moved  steadily 
on  until  it  was  within  seven  miles  of  the  ocean,  it 
was  then  mysteriously  arrested.  Hilo  had  been 
the  scene  of  marvelous  triumphs  of  grace  twenty 
years  before,  and  much  prayer  was  offered  to 
God  for  the  arrest  of  that  awful  flood,  and  it  was 
the  firm  conviction  of  the  missionaries  and  their 
praying  band  of  helpers  that  nothing  could  account 
for  the  deliverance  but  this:  that  God  had  inter- 


8o  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

posed  in  answer  to  prayer.  As  late  as  February, 
1859,  nearly  four  years  after  the  eruption  began, 
the  summit  of  Mauna  Loa  was  rent  with  volcanic 
fires  and  pouring  a  deluge  of  wrath  down  its  sides 
with  such  energy  that  in  an  hour  or  two  the  flood 
had  swept  twenty  miles.  For  a  while  it  moved 
toward  Hilo,  but  again  turned  westward  and 
entered  the  sea,  fifty  miles  from  the  source  of  the 
outbreak,  leaving  nothing  but  ruin  behind  it. 

Still  later,  in  1881,  this  fearful  volcano  was  for 
nine  months  in  full  blast,  and  human  reason  and 
arithmetic  both  doomed  Hilo's  town  and  harbor. 
The  fires  swept  down  the  mountain,  obliterated  a 
forest  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  wide,  and  approached 
within  half  a  mile,  until  it  seemed  as  tho  hell  was 
opening  her  very  jaws  to  engulf  the  town.  But 
a  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer  was  observed, 
and  at  the  last  hour,  when  the  burning,  withering 
breath  of  the  destroyer  was  already  scorching  the 
inhabitants,  God's  command  went  forth : "  Thus  far, 
but  no  farther!"  Afterward  Mr.  Coan  and  his 
helpers  in  prayer  used  to  w^alk  out  and  view  their 
deliverance.  There  lay  the  "great  red  dragon,"  a 
few  rods  from  the  missionaries'  happy  bower,  a 
blackened,  hardened  monster,  fifty  miles  long  from 
mountain  to  main,  and  they  could  only  say,  with 
deep  and  reverential  awe:  "/if  is  all  of  God. ^^ 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  8i 

In  1867  the  old  mother  church  divided  into 
seven;  and  there  have  been  built  fifteen  houses  for 
worship,  mainly  with  the  money  and  labor  of  the 
people  themselves,  who  have  also  planted  and 
sustained  their  own  missions,  have  given  over 
$100,000  for  holy  uses,  and  have  sent  twelve  of 
their  number  to  regions  beyond. 

As  no  man  has  had  more  signal  tokens  of  God's 
presence  and  power,  we  seek  to  find  the  secrets 
of  his  success.  They  seem  to  have  been  three: 
a  persistent  preaching  of  the  Word  of  God,  in- 
dividual contact  with  souls,  and  a  deep  love  for 
the  people.  Mr.  Coan  never  grew  weary  of  preach- 
ing a  full  Gospel.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  preach 
the  sterner  truths  of  the  law,  but  he  always  fol- 
lowed them  by  the  melting  entreaty  of  grace.  On 
his  long  tours  he  met  and  sought  to  lead  indi- 
viduals to  Christ,  or  to  reclaim,  one  by  one, 
wanderers  from  the  fold.  He  was  not  content  to 
preach  to  great  multitudes,  but,  one  by  one, 
sought  to  gather  souls  into  the  kingdom.  When, 
under  the  mighty  power  of  God,  crowds  thronged 
him,  weeping  and  inquiring,  he  worked  incessantly, 
sometimes  till  midnight,  and  his  pen  was  as  busy 
as  his  tongue.  He  wrote  three  thousand  letters, 
in  about  forty-five  years,  to  over  four  hundred  and 
fifty    individuals.      He    was    a    great    missionary 


82  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

pastor  to  thousands  of  church-members  with 
their  children,  and,  Hke  Moses,  a  judge  or  arbiter 
in  their  little  difficulties.  He  baptized  over  ten 
thousand  converted  heathen  in  seventeen  years 
and  buried  four  thousand  three  hundred,  while 
six  thousand  remained  in  1852  for  personal  watch 
and  care.  He  was  like  a  great  general  who  not 
only  commands  a  great  army  but  knows  and  cares 
for  each  soldier.  In  1868  he  had  already  buried 
seven  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-three, 
so  that  the  living  congregation  was  outnumbered 
by  the  dead;  but  the  individual  had  never  been 
forgotten  in  the  multitude.  A  discordant  note, 
caused  by  a  backslider  or  the  self-will  of  a  church- 
member,  he  would  spend  hours  to  harmonize,  and 
his  prayers,  like  his  toils,  were  ceaseless. 

It  pleased  God  that  his  departure  should  be  not 
sudden,  but  like  a  very  gradual  withdrawal.  For 
nearly  three  months  he  felt  within  himself  that 
the  summons  had  come  and  the  messenger  was 
waiting.  The  natives  heard  of  his  condition,  and 
their  love  could  not  be  restrained.  They  came 
and  went,  his  room  being  filled  most  of  the  time. 
But  he  had  an  individual  word,  a  text,  a  prayer, 
for  each  one.  Aged  men,  who  thirty  years  before 
had  been  his  companions  in  his  pastoral  tours, 
came  long  distances  for  a  farewell  look  and  word. 


THE  PENTECOST  AT  HILO  83 

They  reverently  put  off  their  shoes,  as  on  holy 
ground,  as  they  stepped  into  his  bedchamber, 
and  mutely  pressed  his  hand  while  tears  poured 
down  their  cheeks.  He  himself  asked  that  can- 
didates for  admission  to  the  Church  might  as- 
semble at  his  home,  and  he  listened  to  the  ex- 
amination he  could  not  conduct,  and  then  gave 
his  hand  to  each  with  a  radiant  look  and  a  gracious 
word  never  to  be  forgotten.  Later  on  he  was 
borne  on  a  reclining-chair  about  the  streets,  that 
he  might  meet  his  dear  converts  face  to  face  in 
larger  numbers,  as  John  was  borne  on  loving 
shoulders  into  the  assemblies  of  the  Ephesian 
Church. 

The  expressive  marble  slab  that  marks  the 
grave  of  this  remarkable  man  at  Hilo  was  the 
gift  of  his  people.  It  bears  a  simple  epitaph  which 
he  himself  wrote: 


TITUS  COAN 

February  1,  1801— December  1,  1882 

HE  u\i:d  by  faith, 

HE   STILL   LIVES. 
BELIEVEST   THOU   THIS? 

—John  xi.  26 


Christian  history  presents  no  record  of  Divine 
power  more  thrilling  than  this  of  the  great  revival 


84  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  from  1836  to  1842.  When, 
in  1870,  the  American  Board  withdrew  from  this 
field,  they  left  behind  nearly  sixty  self-supporting 
churches,  more  than  two-thirds  having  a  native 
pastorate  and  a  membership  of  about  fifteen 
thousand.  That  year  their  contributions  reached 
;^30,ooo.  Thirty  per  cent,  of  their  ministers  are 
missionaries  on  other  islands.  That  same  year 
Kanwealoha,  the  old  native  missionary,  in  presence 
of  a  vast  throng,  where  the  royal  family  and  digni- 
taries of  the  islands  were  assembled,  held  up  the 
Word  of  God  in  the  Hawaiian  tongue,  and  in 
these  few  words  gave  the  most  comprehensive 
tribute  to  the  fruits  of  Gospel  labor: 

"Not  with  powder  and  ball  and  swords  and 
cannon,  but  with  this  living  Word  of  God  and 
His  Spirit,  do  we  go  forth  to  conquer  the  islands 
for  Christ!" 


Chapter  V 
SAMOA— ITS  PEOPLE  AND  MISSIONS 

BY 

Rev.  James  M.  Alexander 
Author  of  "The  Islands  of  the  Pacific" 


Chapter  V 
SAMOA— ITS  PEOPLE  AND  MISSIONS 

'  I  ''HE  islands  of  Samoa  lie  about  midway  in 
the  routes  of  travel  from  North  America  to 
Australasia,  and  on  the  northern  border  of  the 
vast  zone  of  islands  that,  with  little  intervening 
spaces  between  its  groups,  stretches  from  the 
Marquesas  to  Asia.  They  thus  occupy  a  strategic 
position  for  controlling  the  commerce  and  the  mili- 
tary operations  in  the  South  Seas,  and  in  this 
respect  are  as  important  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  Pacific  as  are  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines  in 
the  northern  part  of   that  ocean. 

The  Samoan  group  includes  ten  inhabited  is- 
lands, but  only  three  of  them  are  of  much  impor- 
tance. Of  these,  Savaii,  the  most  western,  is  the 
largest,  being  forty  miles  long,  twenty  broad,  and 
seven  hundred  square  miles  in  area.  It  has  only 
one  good  harbor,  that  of  Matautu  on  its  northern 
shore.  The  interior  is  crossed  by  three  parallel 
ranges  of  mountains,  which  reach  the  height  of 
four  thousand  feet,  and  are  so  rugged  and  covered 
with   impenetrable  forests  that  until   recently  no 

«7 


88  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

white  man  had  ever  crossed  from  one  side  of  the 
island  to  the  other. 

Four  miles  east  of  this  island  is  Upolu,  which  is 
forty-five  miles  long,  fourteen  broad,  and  has  an 
area  of  five  hundred  and  eighty  square  miles.  This 
island  is  important  because  of  its  city  of  Apia, 
which  is  the  capital  and  commercial  emporium  of 
the  group.  This  city  is  unfortunately  situated  on 
a  bay  that  lies  open  to  the  hurricanes,  which  blow 
from  the  north  in  the  months  of  January,  February, 
and  March. 

Between  these  two  islands  is  that  of  Apolima, 
which  is  an  almost  perfect  volcanic  cone,  about 
seven  square  miles  in  area.  It  is  surrounded  by 
perpendicular  cliffs,  through  which  there  is  one 
opening  on  the  northern  side,  which  affords 
entrance  for  but  one  boat  at  a  time.  Its  interior 
is  a  crater,  which  is  filled  with  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  palms  and  other  tropical  plants — a  secluded 
paradise,  in  which,  it  has  been  remarked,  one 
may  rest  "the  world  forgetting,  by  the  world 
forgot." 

Forty  miles  southeast  of  Upolu  is  Tutuila,  seven- 
teen miles  long  and  five  broad,  with  an  area  of 
only  fifty-five  square  miles.  It  has  the  best  bay 
for  ships  in  the  group,  that  of  Pago-Pago,  situ- 
ated on  its  southern  side,  one  of  the  safest  and 


A    MISSlo.VAin'    S(II(i()F.    IN     \]'r\,    SAMOA. 


^".-' .. 

v1 

■"  -■  •-•      'ft.. 

W 

^P 

1 

&."'■■ 

t:-':M 

^ 

'  ! '  '■ 

i 

HEAD-TAKING    IX    THE    SAVAGE    DAYS   IN    SAMOA. 


s?r" 


THE    RISING    SONS    OF    TODAY    IN    SAMOA. 


SAMOA  89 

noblest  bays  in  the  Pacific,  and  now  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  United  States. 

In  its  aggregate  area  this  group  is  small  as  com- 
pared with  the  great  islands  in  the  western  part  of 
the  Pacific,  but  large  as  compared  with  the  islands 
in  the  eastern  part  of  that  ocean.  The  statement 
may  be  surprising  to  many,  but  nevertheless  is 
true,  that  it  is  about  equal  in  area  to  all  the  Ton- 
gan.  Cook,  Society,  and  Marquesas  islands.  (It  is 
about  as  large  as  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.) 

While  the  mountains  of  Samoa  are  not  pictur- 
esque, not  rising  with  rocky  crags,  abysmal  gorges, 
and  sky-piercing  peaks,  they  are  by  their  low, 
rounded  forms  and  unbroken  slopes  better  adapted 
to  agriculture;  and  are  also  very  attractive  with 
their  enchanting  robes  of  vegetation.  The  soil  is 
so  fertile,  and  the  climate  so  warm  and  rainy,  that 
it  is  adapted  to  yield  in  perfection  and  in  the  great- 
est abundance  every  kind  of  production  found  in 
the  tropics.  As  yet  not  one-twentieth  part  of  the 
area  of  this  group  has  been  reduced  to  cultivation. 
It  may  be  said  without  exaggeration  that,  if  its 
resources  were  fully  developed,  it  could  sustain  a 
commerce  worth  in  the  value  of  its  exports  and 
imports  five  million  dollars  a  year,  and  sufficient 
to  support  a  population  of  five  hundred  thousand 
people. 


90  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

The  natives  of  this  group  are  of  the  Polynesian 
race,  which  occupies  the  islands  of  the  eastern 
half  of  the  Pacific.  Both  physically  and  mentally 
it  is  the  finest  of  the  races  of  the  Pacific,  and  the 
representatives  of  it  in  this  group  are  not  surpassed 
by  any  tribes  on  the  islands  of  that  ocean. 

The  missionary  enterprise  in  behalf  of  the  people 
of  this  group  was  commenced  by  Rev.  John  Will- 
iams in  1830.  He  went  thither  in  a  strange  craft 
which  he  himself  had  constructed  from  Raratongan 
timber,  and  left  eight  Christian  Tahitians  with  the 
king  of  Savaii.  Two  years  later  he  returned, 
touching  first  at  the  eastern  islands  of  the  group, 
and  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  natives  had,  by 
canoe  voyages  to  Savaii,  learned  enough  of  the 
truths  of  Christianity  to  nominally  accept  Christi- 
anity. Arriving  at  the  southern  side  of  Tutuila, 
he  undertook  to  land  at  a  place,  where  a  few  years 
before  a  boat's  crew  of  La  Perouse's  expedition 
had  been  massacred,  and  was  hesitating  to  go 
ashore,  when  a  native  waded  forth  and  informed 
him  that  his  people  had  become  Christians  through 
information  obtained  from  teachers  left  at  Savaii 
by  a  great  white  chief  twenty  moons  previous. 
Mr.  Williams  informed  him  that  he  himself  was  the 
chief  referred  to,  and  then  the  native  made  a  joyful 
signal  to  the  people  on  shore,  and  they  rushed  into 


SAiMOA  91 

the  ocean  and  carried  the  boat  with  Mr.  WilHams 
within  high  up  onto  the  land.  There  Mr.  WilHams 
found  that  the  natives  had  erected  a  chapel,  and, 
without  teachers,  were  regularly  assembling  in  it 
for  the  v.orship  of  the  true  God.  Continuing  his 
voyage  he  found  a  similar  state  of  things  at  Upolu, 
and,  finally,  arriving  at  Savaii,  he  received  a  most 
cordial  welcome,  and  was  able  to  address  con- 
gregations of  a  thousand  people.  This  man  who 
first  carried  the  Gospel  to  Samoa  subsequently 
lost  his  life  while  endeavoring  to  win  the  savages 
of  the  New  Hebrides. 

Standing  on  the  spot  where  John  Williams  first 
landed,  an  old  man — one  of  the  first  Samoan 
Christians — long  after  recalled  the  portly  presence 
of  the  missionary;  the  grateful  and  courteous  way 
in  which  he  had  received  the  food  which  the  kindly, 
hospitable  Samoans  had  taken  to  the  strangers; 
above  all,  that  first  giving  of  thanks  to  the  Father 
of  all  mercies  3.s  ^'Uiliamu"  took  the  food  pre- 
sented to  them.  Many  years  later  another  old 
man  who  w^as  a  priest  of  that  olden  time,  told  of 
his  former  life.  As  a  priest  he  was  believed  to  be 
an  incarnation,  or  at  least  a  representative  of  the 
unseen  God  to  men.     Said  he: 

"  I  was  supposed  to  possess  supernatural  power, 
and  men  were  ever  afraid  of  me;   and  vet  I  was  in 


92  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

my  own  personal  relation  to  the  god  even  as  others. 
I  could  provoke  the  wrath  of  the  deity,  and  I  must 
propitiate  him  even  as  others  must.  I  had  a 
beloved  sister  who  was  sick  unto  death.  When 
naught  availed  for  her  recovery,  and  hope  was 
well-nigh  gone,  I  determined  to  make  a  propitiatory 
sacrifice."  He  had  taken  the  bamboo  knife  and 
severed  the  third  finger  at  the  joint  from  his  left 
hand;  and  when  that  did  not  avail  he  took  off  the 
next,  the  little  finger.     Then  the  sister  recovered! 

With  what  a  sympathetic  thrill  one  witnessed 
that  old  man  tottering  on  the  verge  of  the  grave, 
as  he  raised  his  left  hand  in  confirmation  of  that 
beautiful  story  of  self-sacrificing  love. 

Before  John  Williams  made  that  last  fatal  voyage 
to  the  New  Hebrides  he  had  the  joy  of  seeing  the 
establishment  of  the  Samoan  Mission.  In  1836 
six  British  missionaries  arrived  in  Samoa.  One 
of  the  six  was  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Murray,  who,  in 
many  ways,  was  the  most  successful  and  remark- 
able of  the  missionaries  to  the  South  Seas.  Mr. 
Murray  was  identified  with  the  Samoan  Mission  for 
more  than  half  a  century,  and  witnessed  the  com- 
mencement and  the  triumph  of  Christian  missions 
in  several  groups  of  the  South  Pacific. 

This  band  of  six  missionaries,  accompanied  by 
their  wives,  sailed  in  the  Dunnottar  Castle,  a  small 


SAMOA  93 

craft  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  tons,  around  by 
Cape  Horn,  which  was  passed  in  the  depth  of 
winter  amid  intense  cold  and  storms.  Provisions 
were  short  and  poor,  accommodation  was  scanty 
and  the  voyage  was  long  and  trying,  but  in  April, 
1 836,  thev  anchored  at  Tahiti,  where  they  witnessed 
the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel.  Mr.  Murray,  with 
Rev.  G.  Barnden,  was  appointed  to  Tutuila,  one  of 
the  easterly  islands  of  the  Samoan  group,  and  in 
July  they  were  introduced  to  the  chiefs  and  people 
of  Tutuila,  and  were  left  alone  by  the  brethren  to 
fulfil   their   mission. 

In  those  early  days  communication  with  Eng- 
land took  many  long  months;  it  was  actually  three 
years  before  Mr.  Murray  received  letters  from 
Britain!  He  became  an  earnest  evangelist  when 
he  mastered  the  language,  and  he  animated  the 
native  teachers  with  a  like  spirit.  His  colleague, 
Mr.  Barnden,  was  drowned  while  bathing  on 
December  31st,  1838,  so  that  the  whole  work  of  the 
mission  on  the  island  devolved  upon  Mr.  Murray. 
There  were  thirty  villages,  and  the  people  had 
become  anxious  for  Christian  instruction.  As 
many  as  three  hundred  were  candidates  for  bap- 
tism at  one  time.  Great  periods  of  awakening 
followed,  about  the  very  season  of  the  revival  in 
Scotland,  in  1839-40,  and  many  were  converted 


94  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

to  God.  During  the  year  1841  Mr.  Murray  ac- 
companied the  mission  vessel  on  a  voyage  to  the 
New  Hebrides  and  Loyalty  Islands  to  locate 
teachers  in  favorable  openings.  He  had  the  honor 
of  introducing  Christian  teachers  to  Futuna  and 
Aneityum;  but  those  who  had  been  left  on  Erro- 
manga  on  a  former  voyage,  after  the  death  of 
John  Williams,  had  to  be  removed,  owing  to  the 
fierceness  of  the  natives. 

On  resuming  his  work  at  Tutuila,  five  years  after 
his  commencement,  he  could  not  fail  to  mark  the 
contrast  in  the  condition  of  the  people.  The 
churches  were  crowded  with  eager  worshippers, 
and  the  work  of  conviction  and  conversion  seemed 
to  be  even  greater  than  before.  There  were  not 
wanting  trials  and  disappointments,  sometimes 
from  the  violent  conduct  of  heathen  chiefs  and 
sometimes  from  the  defection  of  weak  converts. 

Whalers  sometimes  called  at  the  island,  and 
Captain  Morgan,  commanding  one,  was  found  to 
be  a  devoted  Christian.  During  one  of  Captain 
Morgan's  visits  he  started  the  idea  of  a  mission 
ship,  and  Mr.  Murray  suggested  that  he  should 
offer  himself  to  the  directors  as  captain.  He  at 
once  did  so,  and  the  Samoan  missionaries  strongly 
recommended  him.  On  his  way  home  the  vessel 
which  he  commanded  was  wrecked  off  the  Austra- 


SAMOA  95 

Han  coast,  but  he  escaped  and  reached  England 
just  in  time  to  be  appointed  to  the  mission  vessel, 
the  Camden. 

Not  long  after  this  a  severe  hurricane  devastated 
the  island.  Coconut  and  breadfruit  trees,  banana 
plantations,  native  houses,  and  the  church  were 
destroyed.  Food  became  scarce,  and  death 
followed  famine.  Only  one  provision  remained 
of  great  value  in  Samoa  in  such  times — a  coarse 
yam  grew  spontaneously  in  the  bush,  deep  in  the 
soil,  and  escaped  the  effects  of  the  storm.  Bananas 
were  nearly  all  destroyed.  There  has,  however, 
been  found  a  merciful  provision  to  supply  the  need. 
When  John  Williams  was  in  England,  Sir  Joseph 
Paxton,  gardener  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  at 
Chatsworth,  gave  him  many  plants  to  be  tried  in 
the  South  Sea  Islands.  Among  them  was  a  root 
of  the  Chinese  banana,  which  is  short  in  its  height 
and  yet  singularly  fruitful.  On  reaching  Samoa, 
Mr.  Williams  thought  this  root  dead  and  dried, 
and  threw  it  away.  Mr.  Mills,  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, picked  it  up  and  planted  it  on  trial.  It 
grew,  and  increased  so  rapidly  that  it  was  highly 
valued.  Every  teacher  took  roots  of  it  when  he 
went  to  pioneer  the  Gospel  into  other  islands. 
At  the  present  day  the  Musa  Chmensis,  or  Cav- 
endxshii,  is  found  everywhere  from  Hawaii  to  New 


96  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Guinea!  Famines  offood  in  many  cases  of  hurricane 
have  been  prevented  by  means  of  this  dwarf  banana. 

In  185 1  Mr.  Murray  exchanged  spheres  of  labor 
v^^ith  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Sunderland,  and  occupied  Man- 
ono,where  he  remained  for  three  years,  v^hen  he  v^as 
transferred  to  the  important  harbor  station  of  Apia, 
inUpolu.  This  beautiful  port  he  calls  "the queen 
of  the  Pacific."  While  at  this  station,  Mr.  Murray 
rendered  some  service  in  the  work  of  revising  the 
Samoan  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  He  did  emi- 
nent service  in  mission  voyaging,  and  in  the  work 
of  an  evangelist.  On  one  ofhis  voyages  to  the  New 
Hebrides  he  spent  three  months  with  Mr.  Geddie, 
and  consulted  about  the  desirableness  of  getting  a 
mission  vessel  for  that  group.  He  was  always 
forward  in  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

In  ten  years  the  faith  of  Christ  prevailed  so  in 
Samoa  that  five-sixths  of  the  population  were  under 
the  instruction  of  the  London  Missionary  Society's 
agents.  Some  are  now  under  the  care  of  Wesleyan 
missionaries,  and  others  under  Roman  Catholic 
priests.  .  There  is  a  seminary  of  young  men  pre- 
paring for  the  ministry  and  as  much  as  ^6,000  has 
been  contributed  in  a  single  year  to  the  funds  of 
the  society  by  the  Christian  converts.  Commerce 
has  also  come  to  the  group,  and  the  people  have 
advanced  in  the  useful  arts. 


SAMOA  97 

Mr.  Murray's  wife's  health  requiring  a  change, 
he  proceeded  to  Litu,  one  of  the  Loyalty  Islands, 
where  a  large  company  of  the  natives  had  already 
been  gathered  into  the  Church.  He  had  not  been 
long  in  Lifu  when  the  New  Guinea  Mission  was 
proposed  and  a  company  of  native  teachers  volun- 
teered to  act  as  pioneers  in  the  new  field.  Messrs. 
MacFarlane  and  Murray  started  on  the  important 
enterprise  of  settling  them  in  1871.  It  was  a 
hazardous  work,  but  it  was  successful.  On  an- 
other visit  Mr.  Murray  spent  two  years  at  Cape 
York  watching  the  difficult  mission.  It  was  an 
anxious  time,  for  some  teachers  had  sickened, 
some  had  died,  and  some  were  murdered.  The 
work,  however,  went  on.  The  ranks  were  re-en- 
forced, and  European  missionaries  w^ere  settled. 
Now  a  Christian  Church  is  on  New  Guinea,  and 
the  New  Testament  is  printed  in  the  Motu  language 
under  the  care  of  that  noble  missionary.  Rev.  W. 
G.  Lawes. 

Mr.  Murray  returned  to  Sydney  in  1875,  after 
forty  years  in  active  mission  work,  and  retired 
from  direct  service  in  connection  with  the  Society, 
but  not  from  service  to  the  cause.  His  pen  was 
never  idle.  He  wrote  books  and  magazine  articles 
throughout  all  his  time  of  retirement.  He  fre- 
quently  preached    during   the    same    period,    and 


98  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

always  seemed  happy  in  declaring  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  He  was  a  devout  man,  of  great  fervor  of 
spirit,  of  burning  zeal,  and  of  marked  catholicity. 
All  who  knew  him  loved  him,  for  he  loved  all  who 
loved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  died  in  his 
eighty-first  year,  and  his  funeral  was  attended 
by  representatives  of  all  the  missionary  societies, 
and  by  a  large  company  of  Christian  friends  who 
had  loved  the  man  and  honored  the  missionary. 

Two  or  three  features  of  the  work  of  the  Samoan 
mission  in  the  early  days  were:  i.  The  education 
of  a  native  ministly^  2.  Bible  translation.  3.  The 
extension  of  the  mission  by  native  agency. 

I.  An  event  of  deep  importance  to  the  mission 
was  the  establishment  of  the  Malua  Institution 
for  the  training  of  native  pastors  and  teachers. 
This  institution  was  established  in  September, 
1844,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Hardie  and  Dr.  George 
Turner.  Reckoning  all  classes  as  students  for 
whom  the  institution  has  provided  education  since 
the  college  was  established,  exclusive  of  those  who 
are  still  under  training,  there  have  been  1300 
students  for  the  native  ministry,  900  women  (wives 
of  students),  and  500  boy  boarders,  making  an 
aggregate  of  2700  who  have  passed  through  the 
institution. 

The  students  cultivate  the  food  necessary  for 


SAMOA  99 

their  own  support  and  that  of  those  dep)cnclent  upon 
them.  As  this  can  be  done  in  such  a  country 
without  much  labor,  it  allows  ample  time  for  the 
strictly  educational  part  of  the  student's  training. 

Certainly  the  training  needed  by  a  native  pastor 
or  missionary  is  unique.  Every  pastor  in  Samoa 
must  be  also  village  schoolmaster,  and  for  that 
normal  training  is  needed.  To  meet  that  need  a 
normal  school  has  been  established.  The  villages 
in  Samoa  are  small,  and  there  is  very  little  of 
the  wealth  we  reckon  by  money  to  pay  for  skilled 
labor  in  the  erection  of  village  churches,  and  the 
pastor  who  can  direct  such  work  is  greatly  valued; 
hence  an  important  part  of  his  training  as  a  student 
must  be  industrial. 

2.  The  Samoans  possess  an  excellent  version 
of  the  Bible.  The  present  edition  is  the  result  of 
more  than  thirty  years'  study  of  the  Samoan 
language,  and  is  as  faithful  to  the  original  as  it  is 
idiomatic  and  pure  in  the  vernacular.  The  New 
Testament  was  printed  in  1847,  and  at  the  close 
of  1855  the  Old  Testament  was  completed.  Ten 
thousand  copies  of  the  Bible  were  sold  at  cost  price 
to  the  Samoans  in  six  years,  and  each  edition  of  the 
great  Book  has  been  successively  paid  for  by  the 
people. 

3.  By  means  of  native  Samoan  missionaries  alone 


100         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

sixteen  islands  to  the  northwest  of  Samoa  have 
been  evangehzed.  These  islands  are  in  the  Toke- 
lau  and  ElHce  groups,  together  with  five  islands 
in  the  Gilbert  group. 

The  first  step  in  this  extension  ot  the  Samoan 
Mission  was  taken  in  1865,  when  native  mission- 
aries were  located  in  the  Ellice  group.  The  way 
in  which  the  mission  was  led  to  take  the  Word  of 
God  to  those  islands  forms,  perhaps,  the  most 
romantic  story  of  modern  missions. 

So  far  as  statistics  can  give  the  result,  we  have 
the  fact  that  15,000  adherents  have  been  added 
to  the  mission;  and  of  these  over  2000  are  profess- 
ing Christians.  The  children  in  Sunday  and  day 
schools  number  nearly  3000.  The  people  of  each 
island  support  their  own  pastor,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose contribute  an  average  of  over  ^2000.  In 
addition  to  this,  they  have  built  their  own  churches 
and  pastors'  houses,  and  sent  to  the  foreign  mission- 
ary fund  the  sum  of  something  like  £^00  sterling 
annually. 

Since  1883  the  Samoans  have  joined  the  rest  of 
their  Polynesian  brethren  in  the  work  of  evangeli- 
zing New  Guinea.  There  are  thirteen  Samoan 
native  missionaries  with  their  wives  in  New  Guinea ; 
all  of  them  are  in  heathen  districts,  and  are  making 
full  proof  of  their  ministry. 


SAMOA  loi 

The  Wesleyans  entered  this  group  soon  after 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  but  withdrew  by 
an  amicable  agreement  that  the  Tongan  and  Fiji 
Islands  should  be  left  to  them,  and  the  Samoan 
group  to  this  society.  More  recently  the  Wes- 
leyan  Conference  of  Australasia  has  re-entered  the 
islands.  The  Roman  Catholics  began  work  in  the 
group  as  soon  as  residence  was  made  safe  by  the 
laborsof  the  Protestant  missionaries,  and  they  now 
have  a  following  of  about  one-seventh  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  Mormons  also  have  a  few  missionaries 
and  some  converts. 

The  progress  of  the  people  of  Samoa  toward 
Christian  civilization  has  in  recent  times  been  sadly 
retarded  by  their  political  troubles,  and  that  chiefly 
by  the  intrusion  of  foreigners  into  their  afi^airs. 
Their  difficulties  began  with  the  struggles  of 
foreigners  for  possession  of  land,  and  afterward 
continued  in  their  struggles  for  the  sovereignty 
over  the  group.  The  Samoan  rulers  did  not  realize 
the  value  of  their  lands,  and  sold  them  to  foreign- 
ers, giving  them  titles  to  more  land  than  there  was 
in  the  entire  area  of  the  group.  The  Germans, 
who  claimed  the  greater  portion  of  the  land,  sought 
to  secure  possession. 

Much  intrigue  and  native  warfare  followed 
disputes  over  the  election  of  a  king.     As  might  be 


102  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

supposed,  this  state  of  things  was  very  detrimental 
to  the  welfare  of  the  natives.  The  insecurity 
of  property  kept  the  natives  from  industrial  enter- 
prises, and  they  indolently  subsisted  on  the  spon- 
taneous products  of  their  fruit-trees,  and  the  yams 
growing  wild  in  their  forests,  going  in  their  ancient 
semi-undress.  They  were  also  demoralized  by 
the  barbarities  of  war,  and  injured  in  health  by 
exposure  to  inclement  weather  while  encamping  in 
the  mountains.  Travelers  going  thither  inferred 
that  they  had  made  less  progress  in  civilization 
than  the  natives  of  islands  that  have  enjoyed  un- 
interrupted peace  and  prosperity.  This  is  partly 
true,  but  they  are  hardly  less  improved  in  character 
and  education.  The  testimony  of  the  foreign 
residents  in  Apia  is  that  they  can  almost  universally 
read  and  write;  that  many  of  them  have  made 
considerable  advance  in  the  higher  branches  of 
education,  and  that  they  are  on  an  average  quite 
as  moral  and  religious  as  the  people  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States.  In  nearly  all  their 
houses  they  daily  conduct  family  worship.  Out  of  a 
population  of  thirty-six  thousand,  about  seven 
thousand  of  them  are  members,  and  twenty-eight 
thousand  adherents  of  Protestant  churches.  Nearly 
all  of  these  churches  are  under  the  care  of  native 
pastors,    of  whom  there  are  about   one  hundred 


SAMOA  103 

and  eighty.     Besides   these   pastors  there  are  two 
hundred  lay  preachers. 

Unfortunately  the  present  condition  of  the  Sa- 
moan  Church  is  not  very  encouraging.  While  nu- 
merically as  strong  as  ever,  there  is  only  too  much 
reason  to  fear  that  there  is  more  formalism  and 
less  life  than  at  the  earlier  periods  of  its  history. 
There  is  a  manifest  tendency  to  escape  the  domin- 
ion of  the  motives  which  operated  twenty  years 
ago  to  quicken  conscience  and  arouse  to  spiritual 
activity.  It  is  probable  that  a  large  proportion  of 
professing  Christians  have  passed  from  the  domin- 
ion of  spiritual  impulse  to  the  formal  and  lethargic 
condition  which  was  so  disastrous  to  the  Post- 
Apostolic  Church;  and  yet  there  is  a  core  of 
earnest  Christian  life  in  the  Church.  Some  of 
the  older  pastors  and  many  of  the  Christians  in  the 
Church  are  manifestly  alive  to  the  dangers  and 
perilsof  this  ageof  transition. 

As  John  Williams  himself  felt,  Samoa  is  only 
the  first  link  of  a  chain ;  and  the  chain  is  not  yet  com- 
plete. The  islands  of  the  South  Pacific  have  been 
connected  with  New  Guinea,  as  John  Williams 
prayed  they  might  be;  but  in  the  South  Sea  itself, 
the  largest  and  most  populous  of  all  the  South  Sea 
Islands  is  still  entirely  heathen.  The  great  Solo- 
mon group  is  still  almost  untouched  by  the  Gospel. 


I04         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Can  it  be  that  Papua  itself  is  to  be  the  chief  agent 
in  the  evangehzation  of  that  portion  of  the  race  to 
be  found  in  the  Solomon  Islands  ?  However  that 
may  be,  we  ought  not  in  our  missionary  forward 
movements  to  forget  our  older  missions,  but  "  hold 
fast  that  which  we  have  that  no  man  take  our 
crown. "  As  it  was  when  the  Messenger  of  Peace 
first  landed  native  teachers  in  Samoa,  so  is  it  still. 
God  has  owned  these  natives  as  pioneers  of  the 
Gospel,  but  the  vessels  that  take  them  and  the 
men  that  train  them  and  lead  them  will  still  for 
some  time  to  come  be  European. 


Chapter  VI 
TRIALS   AND    TRIUMPHS   IN  THE  NEW 
HEBRIDES 

BY 

Rev.  Dr.  William  Gunn,  L.R.C.P. 

Missionary  of  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland, 

Futuna,  New  Hebrides 


Chapter  VI 
TRIALS  AND  TRIUMPHS  IN  THE  NEW  HEBRIDES 

FOR  nearly  a  century  after  the  discovery  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands,  the  New  Hebrides  es- 
caped the  eyes  of  explorers.  Sailing  in  search 
of  a  southern  continent,  Fernando  de  Ouiros 
discovered  Santo  in  1606.  There  he  landed  and 
founded  a  city — the  New  Jerusalem.  But  dis- 
putes between  the  natives  and  his  crew  soon  forced 
him  to  leave.  In  1774  Captain  Cook  named  the 
group  and  made  a  rapid  survey  of  the  main  islands. 
So  correct  is  his  description  of  the  natives  that 
it  holds  good  of  the  unevangelized  islands  to  this 
day.  But  so  low  was  his  opinion  of  them,  that 
he  ventured  to  predict  that  no  attempt  would  be 
made  to  raise  them. 

The  New  Hebrides  are  composed  of  about 
seventy  islands,  varying  in  size  from  Santo,  200 
miles  in  circumference,  to  the  Monument,  an 
isolated  rock.  About  thirty  of  them  are  inhabited. 
The  islands  are  coral  and  volcanic.  The  former, 
few  m  number,  are  low  and  flat  and  the  latter 
rise   to  ^reat  altitudes,   reaching  over    5000  feet 

107 


io8  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

in  Santo.  The  soil  is  fertile  and  the  vegetation 
dense.  The  only  indigenous  animals  are  rats 
and  probably  pigs.  Goats,  cows,  horses,  dogs, 
and  sheep  have  been  introduced.  Fish  abound, 
and  are  caught  by  spear,  net,  hook,  or  in  torch- 
lighted  canoes.  The  climate  is  moist  and  equable; 
the  cool,  healthy  southeast  trade-wind  blows  dur- 
ing the  greater  part  of  the  year. 

The  New  Hebrides  are  inhabited  by  the  Mela- 
nesian,  or  black  race,  with  woolly  hair.  Several 
small  islands,  as  Futuna,  Aniwa,  and  Emae,  are 
peopled  by  a  mixed  race  of  Polynesians  and 
Melanesians.  The  estimated  population  is  70,000. 
Tanna,  Epi,  Ambrim,  and  Oba,  with  8000  each, 
are  the  most  populous  islands.  Many  of  the 
natives  are  good-looking,  with  high  facial  angle. 
The  retreating  forehead,  broad,  flat  nose,  and 
projecting  jaws  of  the  negroes  are  rarely  seen. 
Physically  they  are  inferior  in  strength  and  en- 
durance to  the  white  race,  and  rapidly  succumb 
to  disease.  On  the  heathen  islands  the  men  strut 
about  almost  nude.  In  the  south  the  women  are 
fairly  well  clothed,  but  as  we  proceed  north, 
female  clothing  decreases,  while  native  mechanical 
skill  and  ingenuity  increase.  Men  and  women 
are  fond  of  ornaments,  and  wear  bead  or  shell 
necklaces  and  armlets,   and  wooden  or  tortoise- 


umd  B. 


THK 

NEW  HEBRIDES 

ISIi.VIfDS 

Number  of  [alaoi'j    70, 

Inhabiud  Islands      30 

Land  are,i  about  60OO  sq.  ml. 

Population  70,000 
Aneilyum  toS'iJney,  UOO^mt 

SCALE  OF  MfLES   

0     10    S'J    30    40    60  75  lOfiJ 

Mission  stations  underlined 
Christian  islanda'undcrlincd 


i^aamaC 


^iP" 


Kif^iAB. 


m 


EROMANGAfT    '^Traitor's  Head 


g»NiV 


/ja° 


Anauuuae  ryA  a  JllTTUM 


SCENE    OF   THE   MARTYRDOM    OF  JOHN   WILLIAMS,    ERROMANGA. 


THE  HOUSE  OF  A   NATIVE   CHRISTIAN  TEACHER  ON  ERROMANGA. 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  109 

shell  earrings.  Those  fond  of  music  play  the 
native  flute  and  Paris  pipes,  and  often  continue 
their  heathen  dances  and  singing  all  night.  Their 
houses  were  formerly  from  five  to  seven  feet  high, 
and  without  walls,  but  in  later  years  have  been 
greatly  improved.  The  furniture  consisted  of 
sleeping  mats,  baskets,  clubs,  bows  and  arrows, 
stone  or  shell  axes,  fishing  materials,  and  later  a 
musket  or  two.  They  had  a  fair  knowledge  of 
surgery  and  a  little  of  medicine.  The  doctors 
were  specialists,  who  set  fractures,  compressed 
severed  arteries,  and  trepanned  the  broken  skull. 
The  chief  diseases  are  malarial  fever,  scrofula, 
skin  and  chest  diseases,  and  isolated  cases  of 
elephantiasis.  Dysentery  is  sporadic.  Consump- 
tion is  increasing.  Venereal  diseases  have  been  in- 
troduced by  whites  and  returned  laborers,  and 
have  caused  great  havoc. 

The  natives  are  observant,  well  acquainted 
with  nature,  and  quick  to  discern  character. 
Most  of  them  readily  acquire  neighboring  lan- 
guages or  dialects.  Some  have  learned  to  read 
and  write  in  six  months,  but  the  majority  take 
much  longer.  Morality,  in  heathen  days,  was 
very  low.  In  some  islands,  indeed,  it  is  doubtful 
if  adulter}-  was  considered  wrong,  and  was  ex- 
pressed   in  their  language    as  stenhncr  a    man    or 


no         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

woman.  The  rights  of  property  were  usually 
regarded,  save  in  war  or  private  quarrels. 

Polygamy  and  cannibaHsm  were  common.  In- 
fanticide, though  practised,  was  not  general.  Caste 
of  various  and  numerous  grades,  according  to  the 
number  of  pigs  killed  at  feasts,  obtained  in  the 
north.  Heavy  fines  were  paid  for  the  infringement 
of  rules  in  each  grade.  Women  and  children  be- 
longed to  no  caste,  and  wives  lived  apart  from 
their  husbands.  Parental  control  was  unknown. 
Women  were  the  beasts  of  burden,  and  cultivated 
the  plantations  while  the  men  fought  or  feasted. 
Sorcery,  women-stealing,  and  land  disputes  were 
the  principal  causes  of  war.  In  Malekula  the 
front  teeth  of  the  women  were  removed  at  the  age 
of  eight  or  ten,  just  before  marriage.  In  Ambrim 
the  women  crawled  on  their  knees  before  their 
lords.  In  Aneityum,  Tanna,  and  Santo  they  were 
strangled  at  the  death  of  their  husbands. 

The  natives  were  polytheists.  They  believed 
in  many  gods,  great  and  small,  mutually  independ- 
ent of  each  other.  The  greatest,  variously  named 
Inhujeraing,  Moshishiki,  Mauitikiteki,  etc.,  created 
the  earth  and,  perhaps,  man.  In  the  south  they 
said  that  he  fished  up  the  islands.  All  the  gods 
were  malicious,  and,  accordingly,  the  natives  ap- 
peased   them   with    offerings   of  food    and    drink 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  iii 

(kava),  praying  for  abundance  of  food,  freedom 
from  disease,  and  long  life.  These  gods,  and  the 
spirits  of  their  ancestors,  were  the  chief  objects  of 
worship.  The  dead  were  mourned  for  from  one 
hundred  to  one  thousand  days.  For  years  food 
was  placed  daily  over  their  graves.  In  several 
northern  islands  grotesque  images  were  erected  in 
the  public  square  as  memorials  of  the  dead.  But 
offerings  were  also  presented  to  the  sun  and  moon, 
and   their   preserving  care   was   sought. 

Sacred  men,  or  sorcerers,  professed  to  cause  dis- 
ease, wind,  rain,  sunshine,  and  hurricanes.  These 
sacred  men,  as  a  rule,  were  chiefs;  but  the  author- 
ity of  chiefs  in  the  New  Hebrides  is  very  small,  and 
confined  to  their  own  tribes.  Many,  irrespective 
of  rank,  possessed  charms  to  protect  them  in  war, 
ward  off  disease,  and  cause  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
to  grow.  The  future  world  was  dark  and  dismal. 
No  distinct  division  separated  good  and  bad.  The 
shades  in  semi-consciousness  shivered  in  the  cold 
and  ate  refuse.  Warmth  was  sometimes  purchased 
by  tattooing  their  bodies,  or  was  carried  below 
from  fires  kindled  by  relatives  after  burial.  There, 
after  passing  through  successive  descending  stages 
of  existence,  the  shades  were  annihilated.  But 
rays  of  light  struggled  through  the  darkness. 
Traditions,  varying  in  detail,  existed  of  the  creation, 


112  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  fall,  the  flood,  Jonah,  and  others.  In  Futuna 
the  maxim,  "Let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your 
wrath,"  was  repeated;  and  the  curse  of  Cain  was 
pronounced  on  the  murderer. 

Such  were  the  people,  and  such  was  their  state 
in  the  past;  and,  in  heathen  islands,  so  it  is  still. 
Degraded  by  horrid  customs,  steeped  in  the  gross- 
est superstition,  with  minds  and  understandings 
darkened  by  sin  and  Satan,  in  fear  of  man  by  day 
and  of  spirits  by  night,  the  natives  of  the  New 
Hebrides  were  most  needful  of  the  Gospel,  and 
by  their  isolation  and  Babel  of  tongues  presented 
the  greatest  difficulties  against  receiving  it.  Burn- 
ing with  desire  to  supply  this  need,  John  Williams 
endeavored  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  them,  but 
perished  at  Erromanga,  in  1839,  in  the  attempt. 

This  "Apostle  of  Polynesia"  had  heard  of  the 
savage  cannibals  of  Erromanga,  and  of  the  many 
atrocities  committed  by  them;  but  as  he  knew  the 
effects  of  Christianity  on  some  of  the  Polynesian 
islands,  he  was  anxious  to  extend  its  blessings  to 
other  groups.  He  had  awakened  an  immense  in- 
terest in  South  Sea  missions  by  his  visit  to  Eng- 
land and  by  the  publication  of  his  "Missionary 
Enterprises."  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
after  perusing  it,  declared  that  it  read  like  a  new 
chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.     Peers  and 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  113 

peeresses  not  only  read  it,  but  sent  their  donations 
to  aid  the  work  of  evangehzation  in  Polynesia.  The 
press  reviewed  it  with  favor  and  in  a  few  years 
40,000  copies  were  sold.  John  Williams  became 
the  hero  of  the  hour,  and  many  sympathizing 
friends  breathed  their  benedictions  as  he  sailed 
away  on  his  new  mission  for  the  extension  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  isles  of  the  Pacific. 

It  was  not  long  after  his  return  to  the  scenes  of 
his  triumphs  in  Raratonga  and  Samoa  that  he 
set  his  heart  on  a  visit  to  the  New  Hebrides.  It  had 
been  one  of  his  philanthropic  utterances:  "It 
is  our  duty  to  visit  surrounding  islands.  For  my 
own  part,  I  cannot  content  myself  within  the  limits 
of  a  single  reef."  He,  therefore,  took  twelve 
native  teachers  as  pioneers  and  sailed  in  the  Cam- 
Jen  for  the  New  Hebrides  in  1839.  As  the  vessel 
neared  the  group  he  was  all  anxiety  as  to  whether 
the  savages  would  receive  him  in  a  friendly  spirit, 
and  allow  the  landing  of  a  few  of  the  teachers  to 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  The  first  island 
of  the  group  at  which  the  vessel  touched  was 
Futuna,  a  huge  rock  which  rises  up  2000  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  natives  there  were  friendly, 
but  there  was  not  opportunity  for  making  ar- 
rangements to  locate  teachers.  It  was  otherwise 
at  Tanna.     The  harbor  of  Port  Resolution  was  a 


114         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

safe  anchorage,  and  had  been  visited  by  European 
traders.  The  chief  promised  protection  to  the 
Samoan  teachers,  and  three  were  left.  To  Mr. 
Williams  this  was  a  notable  event.  He  wrote  in 
his  journal  thus:  "This  is  a  memorable  day,  a 
day  which  will  be  transmitted  to  posterity,  and  the 
record  of  the  events  which  have  this  day  tran- 
spired will  exist  after  those  who  have  taken  part 
in  them  have  retired  into  the  shades  of  oblivion." 
The  very  next  day  was  to  be  rendered  still  more 
memorable,  but  by  his  own  martyr  death.  On  the 
20th  of  November,  1839,  he  landed,  with  Mr.  Har- 
ris, a  young  man  sailing  in  the  Camden,  who  seri- 
ously thought  of  giving  himself  to  missionary  work. 
All  seemed  pleasant  at  first,  and  the  party  pro- 
ceeded inland  along  the  banks  of  the  river  at 
Dillon's  Bay.  Suddenly  a  shout  was  heard.  The 
natives  became  hostile,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
run  for  the  boats.  Captain  Morgan  and  Mr. 
Cunningham  were  nearest  to  the  shore  and  reached 
their  boat  in  safety.  Mr.  Harris  was  struck  as  he 
ran,  and  fell  into  the  river.  Mr.  Williams  was 
clubbed  to  death  just  as  he  reached  the  shores  of 
the  bay.  No  help  could  be  given,  and  their  friends 
in  the  boat  saw  the  natives  spear  and  kill  both 
Williams  and  Harris.  Arrows  began  to  fly  around 
the  boat,  and  the  men  were  obliged  to  pull  for 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  115 

their  lives.  The  bodies  of  the  martyr  pioneers 
were  dragged  into  the  bush  bv  the  infuriated 
cannibals  for  their  horrid  feast.  When  the  vessel 
reached  Samoa  great  sorrow  was  awakened  by 
the  heavy  tidings  of  the  death  of  John  Williams. 
From  island  to  island  the  wailing  cry  arose,  "Aue 
Williamu!  Aue  Tawa! — Alas,  Williams!  Alas, 
our  Father!" 

In  November,  1846,  the  Rev.  John  Geddie 
sailed  for  the  Pacific  and,  after  visiting  Hawaii 
and  Samoa,  journeyed  to  the  most  southerly 
island  of  the  New  Hebrides — Aneityum — where 
some  native  teachers  had  been  settled.  What 
was  the  surprise  of  the  mission  party  to  find  eight 
Roman  Catholic  priests  and  eight  lay  brothers 
already  established  in  the  island!  The  mission 
vessel  then  cruised  throughout  the  group,  calling 
at  the  stations  where  native  teachers  had  been 
left.  It  was  hoped  that  Mr.  Geddie  might  find  a 
home  on  the  island  of  Efate.  An  a\v-ful  tragedy 
had,  however,  taken  place  there  the  previous 
year,  when  the  British  Sovereign  had  been  wrecked. 
The  crew  were  all  saved  with  one  exception. 
The  natives  appeared  at  first  to  treat  them  kindly, 
but  it  was  only  to  allay  suspicion.  The  whole  of 
the  survivors,  twenty-one  in  number,  each  being 
placed   between   two   savages   in   a   march,  on   a 


ii6         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

given  signal  were  brutally  massacred,  and  their 
bodies,  divided  among  the  villages,  v^ere  cooked 
and  eaten  by  the  cannibal  people.  It  w^as  self- 
evident  that  a  missionary  could  not  at  that  time 
be  safely  settled  in  that  quarter.  The  mission 
vessel  returned  to  the  south,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Geddie,  with  an  assistant,  found  an  opening  at 
Aneityum,  where  they  settled  under  the  protection 
of  the  chief  at  the  harbor. 

The  Geddies  passed  through  a  hard  and  trying 
experience  in  dealing  with  this  people  so  low  and 
savage.  Their  property  was  stolen,  their  house 
threatened  with  fire,  and  their  very  lives  imperilled. 
Meantime  the  horrid  custom  of  strangling  widows 
on  the  death  of  their  husbands  continued.  Inter- 
tribal fighting  was  chronic,  and  people  were  afraid 
to  go  from  one  side  of  the  island  to  the  other  for 
fear  of  being  killed,  cooked  and  eaten.  There 
was  little  to  encourage  the  mission  party. 

A  year  or  two  later  when  the  Rev.  John  Inglis 
had  settled  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  island,  the 
tide  turned  in  favor  of  Christianity  at  Mr.  Geddie's 
station.  Fifteen  were  baptized,  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  observed. 

To  Mr.  Geddie  belongs  the  credit  of  having 
first  reduced  the  language  of  Aneityum  to  a  written 
form,  the  Gospel  according  to  St.   Mark,  which 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  117 

he  translated,  being  the  first  complete  book  pub- 
lished in  any  language  in  the  western  Pacific. 
The  missionaries  have  always  endeavored  to 
utilize  the  services  of  their  most  intelligent  con- 
verts as  teachers  of  their  brethren.  As  soon  as 
the  back  of  heathenism  was  broken  on  Aneityum, 
Dr.  Geddie  took  charge  of  the  printing-press, 
while  Dr.  Inglis  established  an  institution  for  the 
training  of  native  teachers. 

Many  of  these  Aneityum  helpers  sacrificed 
their  lives  while  assisting  to  carr}'  the  gospel  of 
peace  to  their  heathen  brethren  on  their  own  and 
other  islands.  Now,  from  many  islands  in  the 
center  of  the  group,  which  were  in  the  densest 
heathen  darkness  twenty  years  ago,  numbers  of 
Christian  teachers  have  gone  and  are  now  helping 
to  evangelize  the  more  recently  occupied  islands 
farther  north. 

Many  remarkable  men  have  been  raised  up 
on  all  the  Christian  islands,  and  interesting  details 
of  these  could  be  given  by  the  missionaries.  The 
force  of  character  manifested  by  early  converts 
is  always  striking;  it  has  cost  such  men  some- 
thing to  give  up  their  plurality  of  wives,  their 
enmities,  and  their  unrevenged  insults.  After 
enjoying  the  peace  and  happiness  which  the 
hearty  acceptance  of  the  Saviour  brings,  such  men 


ii8  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

can  fully  appreciate  the  light  and  abhor  the  dark- 
ness in  a  way  that  can  hardly  be  understood  by 
their  children,  who  are  now  having  the  benefit 
of  an  early  Christian  education,  and  home  example 
of  Bible-reading  and  prayer. 

THE  STORY  OF  WAIHIT 

A  few  notes  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  of 
these  native  teachers  on  Aneityum,  who  passed 
away  some  time  ago,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  kind 
of  fruit  that  is  being  gathered  in  this  far-off  portion 
of  the  great  vineyard.  Waihit  was  the  first  native 
convert  in  Western  Polynesia,  who  left  his  own 
island  to  become  a  foreign  teacher;  after  a  few 
years'  training  he  went  to  Futuna,  where  he  suf- 
fered many  privations  that  he  would  never  have 
been  called  upon  to  do  had  he  remained  at  home; 
but,  the  first  step  having  once  been  taken,  he  never 
even  dreamed  of  turning  back  or  withdrawing  his 
hand  from  the  plow  of  Christian  service  until 
his  loving  Master  saw  fit  to  call   him  up  higher. 

As  a  savage  Waihit  was  a  cruel  man,  and  all 
the  more  does  the  change  illustrate  the  wonderful 
grace  of  God.  He  was  believed  to  be  in  league 
with  the  spirit  of  Natmas,  who  controlled  the  sea 
and  was  supposed  to  have  the  power  to  raise  a 
storm  or  proclaim  a  calm.     When  the  fish-trap 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  iig 

or  the  drag-net  was  used,  he  was  always  consulted, 
and  certain  leaves  that  had  touched  his  sacred 
stone  were  attached  to  the  trap  or  the  net,  so  that 
fish  which  were  caught  were  accredited  to  his 
goodness. 

On  one  occasion  a  tabu  had  been  set  on  the 
fishing  ground,  so  that  when  the  fish  came  to 
feed  on  the  coral  reef  at  full  tide  there  might  be  a 
great  haul  for  a  prospective  feast.  A  poor  woman 
recovering  from  sickness  had  gone  to  seek  some 
shellfish;  this  act  was  observed,  and,  highly  in- 
censed that  his  authority  should  be  set  aside  by 
a  woman,  he  with  a  heavy  hard- wood  club  broke 
the  arm  that  broke  his  law.  Truly  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  wicked  are  cruel! 

At  first  Waihit  did  all  he  could  to  annoy  the 
missionary,  and  stole  whatever  he  could  lay  hands 
on.  European  stores  could  not  be  obtained 
oftener  than  once  a  year  in  those  days;  the  flour 
was  getting  low  in  the  cask,  and  the  baked  bread 
was  mysteriously  disappearing,  so  it  became  im- 
perative that  the  thief  should  be  detected. 

The  expedient  employed  was  to  sift  some  coral 
lime  into  an  empty  flour  cask  and  put  a  few  grains 
of  tartar  emetic  into  the  next  loaf  that  was  baked. 
Soon  a  messenger  came  to  the  missionary  with  a 
pitiful    look,    to    say    that    Waihit    was    vomiting 


120  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

violently.  Dr.  Geddie  visited  the  man  as  quickly 
as  possible  and  soon  allayed  the  sickness.  The 
cause  was  scarcely  referred  to,  but  Waihit  became 
a  humbler  man  afterward,  and  more  honest  than 
he  had  ever  been  in  his  life  before. 

In  conversation  one  day  Waihit  was  asked 
what  was  the  first  thing  that  turned  him  toward 
God.  His  reply  was  that  he  was  seen  by  Dr. 
Geddie  lying  on  the  path  drunk  with  intoxicating 
liquor  that  he  had  procured  from  a  white  trader. 
Dr.  Geddie  met  Thetu,  Waihit's  wife,  and  told  her 
that  her  husband  was  lying  on  the  path  like  a  pig. 
"That  comparison,"  said  he,  "with  an  animal  that 
wallows  in  the  mire  was  the  means  of  leading  me 
to  seek  forgiveness  from  the  God  whom  the  mis- 
sionary had  been  telling  us  about." 

The  various  efforts  made  to  evangelize  the 
island  were  by  this  time  causing  a  commotion. 
The  women  wore  a  grass  girdle,  but  the  men  were 
content  with  a  bark  belt  and  a  few  leaves  in  ad- 
dition to  a  coat  of  red  ocher  and  coconut  oil. 

The  missionary  had  said  that  the  natives  should  get 
loi  n  cloths  from  the  traders  in  return  for  their  produce 
and  labor,  instead  of  the  continual  supply  of  beads, 
powder,  and  tobacco.  When  this  good  advice 
became  known  it  was  construed  into  an  order  to 
stop  the  tobacco  supply,  which  angered  the  heathen 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  121 

very  much.  A  general  meeting  was  called;  hun- 
dreds of  savages  were  there  ready  for  anything. 
Dr.  Geddie  wished  to  attend  the  meeting  on  their 
own  ground;  but  Waihit  said,  "No!  these  men 
wish  to  raise  a  quarrel  with  you,  and  evil  will  come 
of  it.  You  stay  in  the  house  and  pray,  while  I  go 
and  meet  them  and  defend  'the  worship.'  The 
four  young  men  whom  you  have  taught  to  read 
the  catechism  will  go  with  me." 

Thus  that  small  band  of  babes  in  Christ  went 
fearlessly  to  face  another  Amalek  and  his  people. 
They  carried  their  banner,  which  was  a  small 
eight-page  catechism  of  Christian  doctrine.  As 
soon  as  this  Joshua  and  his  four  followers  ap- 
peared on  the  scene,  the  heathen  orators  began 
their  speeches,  and  in  the  usual  manner,  with 
violent  gesticulations,  they  charged  the  missionary 
with  all  the  evils  under  the  sun,  especially  the 
displeasure  of  the  "Natmases,"  or  spirit  gods, 
whom  they  continually  propitiated  to  avert  ca- 
lamity, disease,  and  death. 

When  the  orators  sat  down  exhausted,  Waihit 
was  asked  what  he  had  to  say  for  the  missionary. 
His  youthful  companions  whispered  that  they 
could  not  open  their  lips  to  speak  before  all  the 
old  men.  "You  have  got  the  Intas  Ahothaing' 
(literally  "The  Question   Book"),   "ask   me   the 


122         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

questions,  and  I  will  give  the  answers  before  all 
the  people,"  said  Waihit. 

Then  these  five  Christian  soldiers  stood  up  and 
the  best  reader  began — 

*'How  many  gods  are  there  ?" 

Waihit  answered  in  a  loud  voice,  "One  only." 

"Who  is  the  true  God  ?" 

"Jehovah,  He  is  the  true  God,  and  beside  Him 
there  is  none  else," 

"What  is  God?" 

"God  is  a  spirit.     He  has  not  a  body  like  us." 

*"'  Does  God  see  us  or  not  ?" 

"  Yes,  God  sees  every  one  of  us. " 

"Does  God  hear  our  words  ?" 

"Yes,  God  hears  every  word  we  utter." 

"Does  God  know  our  thoughts  ?" 

"Yes,  God  knows  all  our  thoughts." 

When  they  had  proceeded  thus  far  before  the 
great  crowd  who  had  been  amazed  at  the  calm 
composure  of  Waihit  and  his  companions,  Tikau, 
the  leading  opponent,  a  fierce-looking  man,  highly 
decorated  with  red  paint,  shouldered  his  war  club 
and  said  to  his  followers,  "Who  can  answer  these 
words  ?  Let  us  be  going."  In  shorter  time  than 
it  takes  to  tell,  the  agile  savages  were  following 
the  leader,  every  one  to  his  own  home.  The 
faintest  rays  of  Gospel  light  had  penetrated  these 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  123 

five  minds.  Yet  their  simple  taith  was  rewarded 
in  a  mar\'elous  manner;  it  had  been  given  them, 
according  to  promise,  in  that  same  hour  what 
they  should  speak — for  it  was  the  spirit  of  their 
Father  who  spoke  in  them. 

A  favorable  impression  had  been  made;  a  cer- 
tain awe  had  been  instilled  into  their  ignorant 
minds.  As  soon  as  suitable  converts  had  been 
instructed  at  the  mission  station  they  were  sent 
to  the  out-districts,  and  then  could  have  been  seen 
daily  what  would  have  gladdened  the  hearts  of  all 
supporters  of  foreign  missions — children,  parents, 
and  grandparents  sitting  side  by  side  learning  to 
read  portions  of  the  Word  of  God  in  a  language 
that  for  the  first  time  had  been  reduced  to  writing. 

As  Waihit's  knowledge  of  the  Bible  increased 
he  became  an  excellent  preacher.  After  having 
served  as  a  teacher  on  Futuna  for  a  number  of 
years,  he  returned  to  his  own  island  and  was  or- 
dained an  elder  of  the  Church — the  permanent 
church  building  having  been  erected  on  his  own 
plot  of  ground,  which  he  gave  to  the  missionary 
for  that  purpose.  In  later  years,  although  his 
eyes  grew  dim,  he  never  failed  to  take  his  due 
share  in  conducting  the  Sabbath  services.  When 
his  turn  came  one  of  the  younger  office-bearers 
would    read   the   chapter  while   the   vigorous  old 


124         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

man  delivered  the  address.  On  communion 
Sabbaths  it  was  his  special  delight  to  sit  on  the 
pulpit  steps,  so  as  to  be  as  near  the  feet  of  the 
missionary  as  possible;  and  the  crown  of  blessing, 
had  he  been  spared  to  seeit,  was  that  his  eldest  son 
afterward  preached  at  the  central  church  while 
the  missionary  was  preaching  at  a  branch  station. 

Nasauwai,  another  teacher,  was  Waihit's  bosom 
companion  in  the  days  of  heathenism;  they  had 
accompanied  each  other  in  their  tribal  raids. 
Nasauwai  cut  off  his  long  corded  hair,  which  was 
the  badge  of  heathenism,  when  Waihit  became  a 
Christian,  and  at  his  suggestion  attended  the  mis- 
sionary school.  After  Waihit's  death  Nasauwai 
became  so  depressed  in  spirit  that,  eleven  months 
afterward,  he  too  died.  He  had  been  an  excellent 
helper  in  all  mission  work,  and  was  ever  ready  to 
contribute  largely  with  sugar-cane  and  other 
native  foods  to  feed  the  people  who  came  from  a 
distance  when  mission  buildings  were  being  re- 
thatched  or  repaired. 

As  long  as  health  continued  he  was  never  absent 
from  Sabbath  and  week-day  services.  He  had  a 
special  gift  in  prayer.  When  nearing  his  end, 
Nasauwai  said  that  his  heart  was  at  peace  with 
God  because  he  was  "leaning  upon  Jesus." 
When  Nasauwai  felt  his  strength  ebbing  away  he 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  125 

asked  his  wife,  Nepia,  to  read  to  him  a  portion  of 
Scripture.  She  opened  her  Bible  and  read  in  the 
native  language,  "  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled,'* 
etc.  He  thanked  her,  and  after  a  little  while 
turned  round  and  said,  "Have  you  another  portion 
for  me  .''"  She  then  read,  "There  remaineth  there- 
fore a  rest  for  the  people  of  God"  (Heb.  4:9). 
Becoming  still  weaker,  he  asked  for  yet  another 
portion  ''as  a  pillow'*  for  a  dying  man.  Then 
the  good  woman  turned  to  Psalm  116: 15  and  read, 
"Precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  is  the  death 
of   His  saints." 

"That  will  do,"  said  he;  and  this  ripe  Christian 
feebly  commended  himself  to  God  in  prayer,  and 
shortly  afterward  passed  away,  a  redeemed  soul. 

This  woman  had  a  colored  skin  and  frizzly 
hair,  yet  was  not  she  truly  a  ministering  angel 
to  her  husband  in  his  hour  of  need  .''  The  apt 
portions  of  Scripture  she  selected  may  be  ex- 
plained from  the  fact  that  she  was  a  Christian  con- 
vert of  thirty-two  years'  standing,  and  her  whole 
library  consisted  of  the  hymn  collection,  the  Cate- 
chism, the  "Pilgrim's  Progress,"  and  the  Holy 
Bible. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  prevalence  of  Christian 
sentiment,  the  law  of  the  island  would  have  con- 
demned this  woman  to  death  when  her  husband 


126         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

died.  It  would  then  have  been  the  duty  of  her  son 
to  have  strangled  his  own  mother,  so  that  husband 
and  wife  might  accompany  each  other  to  "Uma- 
atmas,"  or  the  land  of  spirits.  Who  can  describe 
all  the  untold  blessings  which  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  have  brought  to  women  and  girls  in  every 
land  where  Christianity  prevails  ? 

Since  the  advent  of  the  Gospel,  cannibalism, 
infanticide,  widow  strangling,  and  tribal  Vv^ar  have 
ceased,  and  a  fine  sense  of  peace  and  security  has 
been  brought  to  many  poor  heathen  natives  in  the 
South  Sea  Islands,  who  formerly  had  no  hope, 
neither  had  they  any  idea  of  the  loving  character 
of  the  true  God. 

In  1883  all  the  principal  islands,  from  Aneityum 
to  Ambrim,  were  occupied  by  missionaries,  and  a 
third  station  was  opened  in  Tanna.  The  Aneity- 
umese  Bible  had  been  completed  by  the  united 
labor  of  Drs.  Geddie  and  Inglis  and  Mr.  Copeland. 
Ten  years  later  the  New  Testament  in  Efatese,  and 
in  a  dialect  of  Tanna,  was  given  to  the  respective 
islanders.  Churches,  with  substantial  iron  roofs, 
were  erected  in  Aneityum,  Futuna,  Aniwa,  Tanna, 
Malekula,  and  Malo,  from  1891-93,  the  natives 
of  the  three  former  islands  defraying  the  cost 
themselves.  The  success  of  the  mission  in  Nguna, 
with    its   large    cathedral-like    church,    has    been 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  127 

phenomenal.  In  1892,  four  hundred  and  seventy 
were  admitted  to  church-membership.  The  story 
of  Tongoa  is  scarcely  less  wonderful. 

Thirteen  islands  are  now  Christian,  of  which  the 
largest  are  Efate,  Erromanga,  Aneityum,  Nguna, 
Emae,  Tongoa,  and  Aniwa.  Epi  is  rapidly  receiv- 
ing the  Gospel.  In  Futuna  one  district  only  is 
heathen.  In  Tanna — the  hardest  field  in  the 
group — the  report  is  more  encouraging  than  for 
years.  Ambrim,  twice  vacated  through  illness  and 
death,  was  reopened  in  1892  by  Dr.  Lamb;  but 
first  hurricane  and  then  fire  destroyed  the  mission 
house,  and  the  volcano  threatened  the  mission 
with  extinction;  but  a  strongly-built  hospital  has 
now  for  years  been  open  to  whites  and  natives. 
Native  teachers  are  under  training,  and  conduct 
services  in  different  districts.  Churches  have  been 
formed  in  Malekula,  Santo,  and  Malo.  But  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  in  these  northern  islands 
is  heathen  and  more  than  50,000  are  still  in  heathen 
darkness. 


Chapter  VII 
THE  TRANSFORMATION  OF  NEW  HEB- 
RIDES  SAVAGES 

BY 

Rev.  John  G.   Paton,  D.D. 
Missionary    to     the    New    Hebrides,    Author    of 
"  Autobiography  of  John  G.  Paton" 


Chapter  VII 

THE     TRANSFORMATION     OF     NEW     HEBRIDES 
SAVAGES 

'  I  ^HE  New  Hebrides  Christians  are  a  people  of 
simple  faith  who  have  embraced  the  Gospel, 
and  try  to  love  and  serve  Jesus  Christ  according  to 
their  knowledge  of  the  teaching  of  His  blessed 
word.  They  try  to  observe  in  their  every-day 
life  and  conduct  all  that  Jesus  has  commanded. 
Their  constant  every-day  walk  and  conversation 
are  powerful  object  lessons  to  the  heathen  and  to 
all  of  the  wonderful  change  they  have  undergone 
by  the  teaching  and  power  of  the  Gospel,  as  they 
try  to  live  for  Jesus  and  eternity.  They  are  far 
from  being  free  from  faults  and  failings  common 
to  man,  nor  are  any  of  them  perfect;  for  we  all 
sin  and  come  short.  There  is  none  righteous,  no 
not  one,  except  our  Saviour,  the  God  and  man 
Jesus  Christ.  But  according  to  their  light  and 
education,  they  would  stand  a  favorable  com- 
parison with  a  similar  number  of  Christians,  say 
any  eighteen  thousand  taken  promiscuously  from 
any  white  Christian  community.    A  few  years  ago, 

131 


132  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

as  heathen,  they  knew  nothing  of  the  Sabbath, 
yet  now  it  is  better  kept  by  them,  and  their  churches 
are  better  attended  than  I  have  seen  in  any  land 
since  I  left  the  islands.  They  also  highly  value 
and  carefully  read  and  study  the  Scriptures,  as 
they  are  God's  only  infallible  guide  to  man  and 
the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practise. 

When  we  began  the  Lord's  work  among  them, 
they  were  all  painted  savage  cannibals  without 
any  clothing  and  without  any  written  language. 
The  women  had  to  do  all  the  plantation  work, 
while  the  men  were  engaged  chiefly  in  war  or  in 
talking  about  it.  They  lived  constantly  in  a  state 
of  superstitious  dread  of  the  revenge  of  their 
heathen  gods  and  of  their  enemies,  and  of  the 
spirits  of  the  people  they  had  murdered,  and  of 
evils  brought  on  them  by  their  sacred  men, 
heathen  priests,  and  wizards,  whom  they  all  fear 
exceedingly. 

As  heathen  they  have  no  idea  of  natural  death, 
but  believe  that  every  person  who  dies  is  killed  by 
some  one  through  sorcery  or  witchcraft,  in  using 
a  piece  of  an  orange  or  banana  skin,  or  something 
of  which  the  dead  person  has  eaten  a  part.  So 
after  a  death  they  all  meet  daily  and  with  each 
other  talk  over  the  case  to  find  out  who  has  caused 
the  death.     Then,  as    soon  as  some  person  will 


i>'  nun  "II   '"'i' 


NEW  HEBRIDES  SAVAGES  133 

name  any  one  with  whom  he  is  unfriendly  as 
having  caused  the  death,  they  load  a  rifle  and  the 
priest  or  chief  walks  up  to  some  young  man  and 
presents  him  with  the  loaded  rifle  saying,  "You 
are  to  go  and  shoot  this  fowl  or  hog  for  us."  He 
generally  has  no  alternative  but  to  be  shot  or  take 
the  rifle,  lay  it  aside,  and  go  and  paint  his  face, 
neck,  breast,  and  arms  black,  and  return,  take  up 
the  rifle  and  go  and  shoot  the  innocent  person, 
after  watching  for  him  concealed  in  the  bush  near 
his  house.  War  often  follows  in  revenge,  and  in 
this  way  many  lives  are  lost  and  sometimes  a  whole 
village  or  tribe  is  sw^ept  aw^ay. 

On  the  islands  first  occupied  by  us,  infanticide 
was  common;  the  aged  were  murdered,  and  all 
widows  were  strangled  to  death  when  their  hus- 
bands died.  This  was  one  of  the  most  difficult 
savage  practises  to  get  the  natives  to  give  up,  as 
they  thought  it  was  a  great  dishonor  for  the  spirit 
of  the  husband  not  to  have  the  spirit  of  his  wife 
to  wait  upon  him  as  a  slave  in  the  world  of  spirits. 
Notwithstanding  all  these  dreadful  savage  cruelties 
and  superstitions,  even  as  a  heathen  they  were  an 
interesting,  industrious  people,  living  in  villages 
and  towns,  and,  like  country  farmers,  cultivating 
and  planting  the  lands  around  them  for  the  support 
of  themselves  and  families.     Yet  they  have  almost 


134  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

no  buying  and  selling,  and  no  money  is  in  circu- 
lation among  them.  "Might  is  right,"  and  by 
club-law  the  strong  oppress  the  weak  without 
mercy. 

The  missionary  first  tries  to  acquire  the  language 
of  the  natives  among  whom  he  is  placed;  he  has 
no  help  or  teacher,  but  tries  to  pick  it  up  as 
spoken  by  them,  to  discover  its  grammatical  con- 
struction. He  phonetically  reduces  it  to  a  written 
form,  translates  some  hymns  into  it,  and  teaches 
the  people  to  sing  them.  He  also  translates  and 
prepares  a  small  book  of  extracts  of  Scripture, 
giving  them  an  account  of  the  creation,  the  fall, 
the  flood,  of  God's  love  and  mercy  to  men  in  Jesus 
Christ.  He  teaches  them  to  read  and  understand 
it,  and  to  receive  the  Scriptures  of  God  as  the  only 
infallible  guide  and  rule  of  faith  and  practise,  to 
all  men  of  all  colors  and  countries,  and  that  in  it, 
by  the  suffering  and  death  of  His  only  begotten 
son,  Jesus,  God  offers  salvation  and  eternal  happi- 
ness to  all  men  who  will  accept  it,  believe  and  obey  it, 
having  repented  of  and  given  up  all  sin.  The  good 
God  of  love  and  mercy,  so  loving  our  lost  and 
ruined  race  as  to  send  His  Son  into  our  world  to 
die  for  men  and  give  them  eternal  life,  is  He  who 
by  His  divine  grace  enlightens  the  mind  and  moves 
the  heart  of  the  savage  to  love  and  serve  God  above 


NEW  HEBRIDES  SAVAGES  135 

all  else.  Hence  they  delight  to  attend  school  and 
church  and  prayer-meeting  in  order  to  learn  all 
possible  about  the  Saviour  and  their  privileges  and 
duties  in  Him,  whom  they  try  to  love  and  serve  as 
their  present  abiding  friend  and  eternal  reward. 

All  who  attend  our  communicants'  classes  as 
catechumens  must  have  a  fairly  correct  general 
knowledge  of  whatever  portions  of  Scripture  are 
translated  and  printed  in  their  own  language;  they 
must  also  know  the  Church  catechism  or  confession 
of  faith  which  I  prepared  for  them  in  Aniwan,  and 
which  has  also  been  translated  into  other  languages. 
For  a  year  before  they  are  allowed  to  attend  the 
communicants'  class  each  man  and  woman  must 
have  an  unstained  character,  so  far  as  man  knows. 
Then,  according  to  their  Christian  knowledge  and 
devotion,  they  attend  the  class  from  one  to  three 
years  or  longer  before  we  baptize  them  and  admit 
them  to  the  membership  of  the  Church.  Hence, 
by  God's  blessing  on  such  careful  training  and 
preparation  of  them  for  church-membership,  we 
have  fewer  of  our  members  falling  away,  and  far 
more  intelligent  consecrated  Christian  help  from 
them  in  working  for  the  salvation  of  others  and  in 
all  God*s  work  than  we  would  have  if  we  baptized 
them  as  some  do  on  a  confession  of  their  faith  and 
because   they   are   able   to   answer   a   few   simple 


136  IHE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

questions.  We  believe  that  neither  they  nor  we 
can  really  know,  love  and  serve  Jesus  and  feast 
upon  real  communion  with  him  at  His  table  and 
in  the  joys  of  His  salvation  and  service,  without 
doing  all  we  can  to  teach  others  to  accept  and 
enjoy  the  same  blessings  for  time  and  eternity. 
They  are  thus  taught  and  led  by  divine  grace  to 
believe  in  all  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  our 
common  faith  and  to  try  earnestly  to  live  up  to 
them,  in  all  things  serving  Jesus  Christ. 

All  through  life  God's  people  grow  in  Christian 
knowledge  and  consecrated  devotion  to  Jesus  and 
His  work,  by  their  daily  communion  with  Him  in 
prayer  and  reading  the  Scriptures,  as  in  humble 
penitence  they  follow  on,  loving  and  serving  Him 
more  perfectly,  using  all  diligence  to  make  their 
calling  and  election  sure,  till  at  death  Christ  perfects 
them  in  heaven.  Our  converts  and  church  mem- 
bers begin  and  close  every  day  in  private  and 
family  prayer.  They  ask  God's  blessing  on  all  meals 
of  food.  On  Sabbath  none  of  them  are  seen  turn- 
ing their  backs  on  the  Sabbath-school  and  church 
services,  and  going  away,  as  many  do  in  these 
lands,  on  foot,  on  bicycles,  in  carriages,  street  cars, 
railways,  and  steamboats,  to  spend  God's  day  in 
pleasure  and  amusement,  forgetting  or  disregard- 
ing the  Divine  command,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath 


NEW  HEBRIDES  SAVAGES  137 

day  to  keep  it  hol\-.  "  Unless  confined  to  a  bed  of 
sickness  or  having  to  attend  one  so  confined,  ail 
our  church  members  are  in  their  seats  in  the  church 
on  the  Lord's  day  in  all  weather,  and  also  at  the 
week-day  prayer-meetings.  And  being  accustomed 
to  prayer  with  their  families,  no  male  member 
when  requested  ever  declines  to  open  or  close 
publicly  a  church  service  with  prayer. 

Their  education  and  knowledge  is  limited  and 
far  from  being  like  ours,  and  yet  they  can  all  read 
what  of  the  Scriptures  they  possess,  and  show  great 
zeal  and  exercise  much  self-denial  in  trying  to  teach 
and  bring  the  heathen  to  know  and  love  and  serve 
Jesus  Christ  as  their  God  and  Saviour.  Some  of 
them  die  and  others  have  been  murdered  when 
away  as  teachers,  but  others  zealously  volunteer 
to  go  and  occupy  their  places,  as  when  from  Aniwa 
one  died  on  Tanna  and  the  Aniwans  sent  five  ad- 
ditional teachers  in  his  place. 

Our  converts  build  and  keep  up  their  own 
schools  and  churches  without  outside  help,  and  by 
planting  and  preparing  arrowroot  yearly  they  have 
paid  at  the  rate  of  about  five  dollars  a  leaf  for 
preparing  and  printing  the  Scriptures,  as  we  have 
been  able  to  translate  them  into  twenty-two  of 
their  languages.  This  is  a  great  undertaking  fi>r 
them.      The  natives  of  Aneitvum   paid  one  thou- 


138  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

sand  two  hundred  pounds,  or  six  thousand  dollars, 
to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  for  print- 
ing the  complete  Bible  in  their  language,  and  a 
number  of  the  islands  pay  the  thirty  dollars  each 
yearly  to  keep  their  own  teachers. 

Even  now  the  change  in  the  living  and  conduct  of 
our  converts  is  a  wonderful  work  of  divine  grace, 
and  we  hope  that  Jesus  will  be  able  to  show  the 
"finished  product"  among  His  Redeemed  in  the 
glory  of  Heaven.  Pray  that  they  and  we  may  be 
led  faithfully  to  live  and  labor  for  Jesus  till  death, 
and  that  He  may  spare  us  and  give  us  the  help 
and  means  for  extending  the  teachings  and  bless- 
ings of  the  Gospel  to  the  from  40,000  to  50,000 
cannibals  yet  on  the  New  Hebrides. 

As  the  results  of  the  missionary  work  in  the  New 
Hebrides,  our  dear  Lord  has  given  our  missionaries 
about  20,000  converts,  and  the  blessed  work  is  ex- 
tending among  the  others,  cannibals  on  the  group. 
In  one  year,  11 20  savages  renounced  idolatry  and 
embraced  the  worship  and  service  of  Christ.  One 
missionary  baptized  200  out  of  his  communicants' 
class  of  400,  after  a  long  and  careful  preparatory 
Scripture  training.  We  never  baptize  and  teach 
afterward,  but  educate  and  wait  till  they  give  real 
evidence  of  consecration  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  then, 
at  their  desire,  baptize,  and  continue  teaching  them 


NEW  HEBRIDES  SAVAGES  139 

to  observe  in  their  life  and  conduct  all  things  Jesus 
has  commanded.  Hence,  we  have  only  about  3500 
communicants,  tho  over  10,000  attend  our  day-  and 
Sabbath-schools.  All  of  the  converts  attend  church 
regularly.  They  contributed  last  year  over  :^I300 
in  money  and  arrowroot,  and  a  number  of  the  islands 
now  support  their  own  native  teachers.  Yet  they 
have  no  money  but  what  they  get  by  selling  pigs, 
fowls,  coconuts,  and  copra  to  passing  ships.  God 
has  given  four  of  our  present  missionaries  each 
from  1700  to  2000  converts;  and  at  all  our  more 
recently  occupied  stations  the  work  is  very  en- 
couraging, and  enjoys  the  divine  blessing. 


Chapter  VIII 
HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI 

BY 

Rev.    D.   L.    Leonard,    D.D. 

Associate     Editor    of     the     Missionary     Review 

of  the    World,     Author  of  "One  Hundred 

Years  of  Missions" 


Chapter   VIII 
HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED     FIJI 

nr^HESE  islands  in  the  South  Pacific  display  in 
a  marvelous  degree  the  matchless  power 
of  Christ  to  reach,  redeem,  ?nd  transform  the 
grossest,  the  fiercest,  and  the  most  devilish  of 
humankind. 

The  group  of  islands  is  located  about  as  far  to 
the  south  of  the  equator  as  Hawaii  is  to  the  north. 
Only  a  few  of  them  are  of  any  considerable  impor- 
tance, either  for  size  or  the  number  of  their  inhab- 
itants. As  a  matter  of  fact  two,  Viti-Levu  (Great 
Fiji),  and  Na  Vanua-Levu  (the  Great  Land), 
include  the  bulk  of  the  entire  area  of  about  8,000 
square  miles.  When  first  visited,  more  than  a 
century  ago,  the  population  numbered  about 
200,000,  but  it  has  been  reduced  since  then  to 
117,000  or  less,  largely  through  the  ravages  of 
certain  infectious  diseases.  These  islanders  belong 
to  the  black  Melanesian  race  and  resemble  the 
natives  of  New  Zealand  and  the  New  Hebrides 
more  closely  than  those  of  Tahiti  or  Hawaii. 
Physically  and  intelligently  they  rank  among  the 

143 


144  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

foremost  in  the  South  Seas;  but  before  Christianity 
wrought  its  astounding  miracles  of  transformation, 
they  had  no  equals  for  brutahty,  licentiousness, 
and  utter  disregard  of  human  life.  The  world  over 
their  name  was  a  synonym  for  all  that  is  atrocious, 
inhuman,  and  demoniacal.  It  was  a  part  of  their 
religion  to  be  as  cruel  as  possible  towards  their 
enemies,  and  to  slay  them  with  nameless  and  hor- 
rible tortures  was  a  positive  delight.  Their  habit- 
ual acts  were  by  far  too  disgusting  and  fiendish 
to  be  described  in  detail,  or  even  to  be  imagined. 
Here  is  the  portrait  of  a  typical  Fijian,  when 
wrought  upon  by  the  demon  of  passion: 

"The  whole  body  quivering  with  excitement; 
every  muscle  strained;  the  clenched  fist  eager  to 
bathe  itself  in  blood;  the  forehead  all  drawn  up 
in  wrinkles;  the  staring  eyeballs  red  and  gleaming 
with  terrible  flashings;  the  mouth  distended  into 
a  disdainful  and  murderous  grin." 

The  story  of  the  introduction  of  the  gospel  of 
peace  and  love  into  this  annex  ante-chamber  to 
the  "bottomless  pit"  is  a  novel  one,  and  full  of 
interest.  So  far  as  any  human  purpose  or  plan 
was  concerned,  the  first  steps  w^ere  taken  appar- 
ently by  purest  accident,  as  a  result  of  a  curious 
combination  of  circumstances,  two  missionary 
organizations   playing   an    undesigned    part.       In 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI   145 

the  year  1823  the  EngHsh  Wesleyans  began  evan- 
gehzing  work  in  Tonga,  a  group  several  hundred 
miles  to  the  east  of  Fiji,  and  after  eleven  years 
reaped  a  rich  reward  in  a  great  revival,  in  which 
several  thousands  of  the  natives  were  brought  to 
a  saving  knowledge  of  the  truth.  Intercourse  be- 
tween the  two  island  worlds  was  by  no  means 
infrequent,  and  a  considerable  number  of  Tongans 
had  crossed  in  their  canoes  to  Lakemba,  one  of  the 
most  easterly  members  of  the  Fijian  group,  for 
social  and  trading  purposes.  Among  these  visitors 
were  some  of  the  recent  converts,  who  at  once 
began  to  proclaim  their  nev.  faith,  and  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  Fijians.  When  tidings  of  this 
work  reached  the  home  church,  two  missionaries, 
William  Cross  and  David  Cargill,  were  sent  in 
1835  to  establish  a  mission.  When  they  landed 
they  were  immediately  met  with  a  wild  and  rough 
reception,  which  gave  them  not  a  little  discomfort 
and  even  endangered  their  lives.  Several  of  the 
native  Christian  teachers  were  killed,  and  once  the 
mission  premises  were  set  on  fire.  Before  long, 
however,  the  good-will  of  the  savages  was  won  by 
kindness  and  good  deeds,  and  by  a  system  of 
barter,  in  which  food  and  service  were  paid  for 
with  hatchets,  pots,  calico,  and  other  imported 
goods.     A  printing-press  was  set  up,  irom  which 


146  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

portions  of  the  Scriptures  soon  appeared  in  the 
Fijian  tongue,  much  to  the  wonder  of  the  natives. 
Within  five  months  31  natives  were  baptized,  and 
by  the  end  of  a  year  280  had  been  received  into 
church  membership. 

In  the  meantime  by  a  providence  even  more 
strange  the  Gospel  was  finding  entrance  into  Ono, 
a  small  island  about  150  miles  to  the  south  of 
Lakemba.  Here  Christian  influences,  centering  in 
Tahiti,  a  thousand  miles  away,  were  curiously 
joined  with  those  from  Tonga,  so  that  the  London 
Missionary  Society  was  preparing  the  way  for  the 
advent  of  the  Wesleyans.  In  the  year  1835,  Ono 
was  smitten  by  a  terrible  epidemic,  from  which 
not  the  least  relief  cojuld  be  gained  by  the  efforts 
of  the  pagan  priests.  In  this  emergency  one  of  the 
chiefs  crossed  to  Lakemba,  and  learned  from  a 
Fiji  chief  who  had  recently  returned  from  a  voyage 
to  Tahiti  that  Jehovah  is  the  only  true  God,  and 
that  one  day  in  seven  should  be  set  apart  for  His 
worship.  Furnished  with  only  this  slight  fragment 
of  truth,  he  returned  home  and  began  to  urge  his 
people  to  cast  away  their  idols  and  serve  the  living 
God.  Not  long  after  this  a  Tongan  teacher 
visited  the  island,  and  told  all  he  knew  of  New 
Testament  faith  and  practise.  His  words  were 
heard  with  gladness,  and  a  chapel  was  soon  built, 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI    147 

which  \vas  daily  filled  with  attendants  upon  relig- 
ious instruction.  Sometime  later  other  teachers 
were  sent  from  Tonga,  one  of  them  a  native  of  Ono, 
and  soon  three  places  of  worship  were  crowded 
with  inquirers.  The  entire  population  of  a  neigh- 
boring island  abjured  their  idolatrous  practises, 
and  in  1839  word  was  sent  to  Lakemba  that  168 
men  and  160  women  had  turned  to  the  Lord. 
James  Calvert  was  sent  thither  to  encourage  and 
strengthen  them  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and 
in  a  few  months  it  was  given  to  him  to  baptize 
200  converts. 

Thus  far,  though  evil  had  been  endured  from 
the  barbarism  everywhere  rampant,  from  opposi- 
tion and  persecution,  nevertheless  the  trials  and 
risks  had  not  been  peculiarly  great.  As  yet  only 
the  outskirts  of  the  realms  of  darkness  had  been 
touched.  Only  a  skirmish  had  occurred;  the  fierce 
battle  was  yet  to  be  fought.  The  chief  abodes  of 
violence  and  depravity  were  further  west  in  the 
windward  islands,  in  and  around  Viti-Levu  and 
Vanua-Levu.  These  seemed  to  be  the  very  seat 
of  Satan,  and  in  1838,  Cross  and  Cargill  were 
transferred  thither,  Calvert,  John  Hunt  and 
several  others,  following  in  due  season.  Almost  at 
once  these  new-comers  had  a  taste  of  the  horrors  in 
store  for  them.     The  king's  son  was  drowned  at 


148  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

sea,  and  his  sixteen  wives  were  strangled  according 
to  custom.  At  the  same  time  a  cannibal  feast  was 
held  upon  the  bodies  of  eleven  men  slain  in  war, 
these  being  cooked  and  eaten  near  the  dwelling 
of  the  Englishmen.  When  their  shutters  were 
closed  to  hide  the  shocking  spectacle,  such  mortal 
offence  was  taken  that  one  of  the  missionaries 
came  near  being  murdered.  These  messengers  of 
the  Glad  Tidings  for  years  were  compelled  to  see 
and  hear  sights  and  sounds  which  can  not  here  be 
told,  but  can  be  inferred  in  some  degree  from  the 
brief  statement  of  customs  and  practises  which 
were  common  as  a  part  of  the  native  religion. 

For  vindictiveness  of  passion  these  demons  in 
human  form  were  unsurpassed,  as  well  as  for 
cruel  jealousies,  for  Satanic  rage  when  provoked, 
and  for  revengeful  malignity  even  in  the  moment 
of  death.  A  Fijian  always  went  armed;  for  fight- 
ing was  his  business,  and  the  numerous  tribes  were 
almost  constantly  at  war.  They  had  a  habit 
of  massacring  all  shipwrecked  sailors  or  other 
strange  visitors  to  their  shores.  Few  Fijians  died 
a  natural  death  or  lived  to  old  age,  for  the  feeble 
and  aged  were  esteemed  worse  than  useless  mem- 
bers of  society,  and  by  artificial  means  were 
hastened  to  their  graves.  Infanticide  was  so 
common  that  two-thirds  of  the  children  perished 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI    149 

at  the  hands  of  their  parents.  Girls,  in  particular, 
were  unwelcome,  for  they  could  neither  wield  the 
war-club  nor  poise  the  spear.  When  a  chief  built  , 
a  house,  and  holes  were  dug  for  the  posts,  a  man 
was  flung  into  each  one  to  be  buried  alive.  When 
a  war-canoe  was  launched  living  men  were  used 
as  human  rollers,  and  their  bruised  and  torn 
bodies  were  afterwards  roasted  and  eaten.  On 
one  occasion  a  fishing  party  of  twenty-eight  were 
seized,  and  after  being  beaten  into  insensibility, 
were  cast  into  heated  ovens.  Some  of  the  number, 
reviving,  endeavored  to  escape,  but  were  driven 
back  to  be  roasted.  Human  flesh  was  eaten  by 
preference,  as  well  as  from  hatred  of  their  enemies, 
slain  in  battle.  In  one  district  the  entire  popula- 
tion was  kept  to  be  devoured  by  their  more  pow^er- 
ful  neighbors.  A  chief  would  send  to  a  neighbor 
or  ally  a  roasted  victim  carefully  wrapped,  and 
escorted  by  a  procession.  After  one  war  the  victor)- 
was  celebrated  by  cooking  100  human  bodies  for 
a  feast.  One  chief  set  up  a  stone  to  commemorate 
each  time  he  had  played  the  cannibal,  and  872 
of  these  tokens  were  counted  by  a  missionar}'. 

In  addition  to  daily  contact  with  such  loathsome 
spectacles,  the  thieving  propensities  of  the  Fijians 
were  so  limitless  and  shameless  that  the  household 
utensils  of  one  of  the  families  were  reduced  to  the 


I50  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

possession  of  a  single  cup,  and  of  that  the  handle 
was  gone.  At  first  but  one  ship  visited  the  islands 
each  year.  A  letter  from  England  took  fifteen 
months  upon  the  way  and  it  required  three  years 
to  order  and  receive  a  supply  of  clothing.  For  a 
time  the  nearest  physician  dwelt  at  a  distance  of 
1,000  miles  across  the  ocean. 

For  a  full  decade  the  grace  of  patient  endurance 
was  the  one  which  received  the  most  continual 
and  abundant  exercise.  Of  course  all  were  tireless 
in  the  performance  of  loving  deeds,  and  lavished 
themselves  without  stint  upon  the  poor  creatures 
they  had  come  to  redeem  from  their  grossness 
and  bestiality.  Schools  were  opened,  and  as  soon 
as  possible  the  task  of  translating  and  printing 
the  Scriptures  was  carried  forward  to  completion. 

Finally,  in  1845-6,  a  sweeping  revival  was 
experienced,  which  wrought  marvelous  transfor- 
mations in  a  multitude  of  hearts  and  lives.  Many 
of  the  features  of  this  season  of  refreshing  from 
God  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  those  occurring 
in  other  island  groups,  Tonga,  Tahiti,  and  Hawaii. 
First  various  influential  chiefs  were  touched  and 
regenerated  by  the  Spirit,  and  then  the  people 
flocked  en  masse  into  the  Kingdom.  When  the 
consciences  of  these  brutal  wretches  were  thor- 
oughly aroused,  they  were  tremendously  excited, 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI    151 

and  were  fairly  overwhelmed  with  terror.  They 
would  pray  in  agony,  would  literally  roar  on 
the  ground  for  hours  together,  and  would  then 
faint  and  fall  from  very  exhaustion.  Reviving, 
they  would  pray,  and  roar,  and  faint  again.  All 
this  anguish  was  somewhat  proportionate  to  their 
former  cruelty  and  fondness  for  blood.  Some  of 
the  most  diabolic  of  the  chiefs  were  found  among 
those  who  thus  agonized  to  enter  in  at  the  "strait 
gate."  Cries  for  mercy  would  sometimes  drown 
every  other  sound,  and  no  relief  was  obtained 
until  pardon  was  assured.  One  monster  in  par- 
ticular, known  as  a  "human  butcher,"  who  passed 
through  this  harrowing  experience,  came  out 
penitent  and  humble,  and  became  a  notable 
preacher  of  righteousness. 

THE  CONVERSION  OF  THAKOMBAU 

One  notable  and  important  conversion  was 
that  of  Thakombau,  known  as  the  "  King  of  the 
Cannibals."  His  father,  Tanoa,  was  a  very 
powerful  chief  and  exceedingly  bloodthirsty  and 
cruel,  but  Seru,  his  son,  who  afterwards  became 
King  Thakombau,  surpassed  him  in  cruelty.  He 
treated  his  attendants  as  slaves,  and  did  with  them 
as  he  liked,  for  he  was  master  of  their  lives.  One 
day  some  prisoners  of  war  were  carried  to  Bau, 


152  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  capital,  to  furnish  a  cannibal  feast.  One  of 
them  was  brought  before  Seru,  who  was  still  a 
young  boy.  The  lad  took  a  club,  although  he 
could  scarcely  hold  it,  and  managed,  with  great 
difficulty,  to  beat  in  the  head  of  his  victim.  This 
gave  him  renown  and  gave  him  the  right  to  be 
considered  a  warrior. 

A  serious  revolt  drove  the  old  KingTanoa  from 
his  home  and  capital.  Many  great  chiefs  were 
involved  in  this,  butThakombau  managed  to  gain 
possession  of  the  power  at  Bau  and  bring  his 
father  home  in  triumph.  Then  began  the  fearful 
work  of  revenge.  Thakombau  devoted  to  the  club 
and  the  oven  all  his  father's  enemies  that  he  could 
reach.  TheNamena  tribe  stood  out  boldly  against 
Bau  and  defied  it,  but  they  were  betrayed  into 
Thakombau's  hands  and  Oiie  hundred  men  were 
slain  and  their  bodies  devoured.  By  the  king's 
order  eighty  Namena  women  were  also  strangled 
to  accompany  their  husbands  over  the  Fijian  Styx. 

Not  long  after  this  a  devoted  missionary  visited 
Bau  and  sought  to  gain  Thakombau's  permission 
to  preach  the  gospel  of  love  and  peace  to  his 
warriors,  but  the  king  refused,  saying  passionately, 
"We  will  fight  until  we  die;  we  will  teach  our 
children  and  our  children's  children  to  fight.  We 
do  not  want  a  message  of  peace." 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI    153 

The  missionary  warned  the  king  of  the  conse- 
quences of  his  cruel  course,  but  the  king  declared 
that  he  would  never  change  and  that  if  ever  any 
of  his  people  became  Christians  he  would  kill 
them.  The  missionar)'  urged  upon  him  the  ex- 
ample of  other  Christian  chiefs  but  Thakombau 
replied: 

"When  you  can  grow  the  Ndalo  on  a  barren 
rock,  then  I  will  turn  Christian,  not  before." 

Thakombau  now  became  not  only  the  greatest 
power  in  Fiji,  but  the  greatest  enemy  to  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel.  Some  natives  at  Nandi  had  gladly 
embraced  the  life-giving  power  born  of  faith  in 
Christ,  and  the  people  of  Bau,  knowing  this,  were 
endeavoring  to  stir  up  a  war  of  extermination. 
Varani  of  Viwa,  and  a  zealous  missionary,  knowing 
the  peril  the  Christians  were  in,  went  to  Thakom- 
bau and  begged  him  to  intervene — to  stay  his  hand 
— to  save  them! 

"No!"  he  sneered.  "You  are  in  trouble  now 
and  I  am  glad  of  it.    /  hate  your  Gospel!'^ 

Trouble,  anxiety,  personal  danger,  and  even 
biting  remorse  threatened  to  overwhelm  the  king. 
He  listened,  often  in  moody  silence,  to  those  who 
wished  to  save  him.  His  deadly  enemy  was  close 
at  hand,  and  Ratu  Ngara  said:  "Fourteen  times  I 
have  sought  to  make  peace  with  Thakombau,  and 


154  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

now  I  will  not  rest   until   I   have  killed   him   and 
eaten  him." 

Enemies  closed  in  upon  the  king  on  all  sides. 
Disasters  filled  him  with  consternation — a  great 
part  of  his  capital  was  burned  down;  some  huge 
temples  and  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  property 
were  destroyed.  Thakombau's  favorite  colony 
at  Kamba  rose  in  arms  against  him,  seized  his 
property,  and  slew  eighty  of  his  adherents.  Then 
the  Europeans  (except  the  missionaries)  turned 
against  him. 

Dim  conceptions  of  the  necessity  of  having 
God's  kingdom  established  in  the  soul,  and  of  the 
soul's  character  being  formed  anew  under  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  became  fixed  as  reali- 
ties in  Thakombau's  mind.  "Turn  to  God,  and 
be  faithful  to  Him,"  said  the  missionary,  who,  after 
years  of  stout  opposition,  had  been  allowed  to 
reside  at  Bau  and  preach  the  Gospel  openly. 

But  still  the  king  refused.  One  great  obstacle 
stood  in  the  way  of  his  open  and  final  acceptance 
of  Christ.  Ratu  Ngara's  threat  to  destroy  Bau, 
and  to  kill  and  eat  his  old  adversary,  kept  Thakom- 
bau  restless,  and  called  out  afresh  the  fighting 
instinct  as  a  means  of  self-preservation. 

At  this  juncture  Ratu  Ngara  was  seized  with  a 
dire  malady,  which  carried  him  off"  in  a  few  days, 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI    155 

without  his  being  able  to  bequeath  his  revenge 
to  his  chiefs  and  tribesmen.  This  made  it  possible 
to  establish  peace  between  the  two  tribes. 

But  Thakombau  had  made  enemies  of  the  great 
chiefs  in  his  neighborhood,  and  of  all  those  whose 
relatives  he  had  killed  and  eaten  by  the  score. 
These  now  turned  against  him  and  thirsted  for  his 
blood.  The  king  had,  however,  entered  a  period 
of  humiliation,  repentance  and  prayer.  Conviction 
had  entered  his  soul,  and  remorse  was  tugging  at 
his  heart-strings.  He  saw  the  awfulness  of  his  own 
life.  He  was  face  to  face,  not  with  man,  but 
with  God.  But  by  God's  mercy  this  heathen  king 
atlast  heard  the  welcome  command — "Go  in  peace 
and  sin  no  more."  Largely  by  the  help  of  the 
Christian  king  of  Tonga,  George  Tubon,  he  was 
rescued  from  his  enemies  and  at  last,  forever 
renounced  the  gods  of  his  fathers,  and  publicly 
owned  himself  the  servant  of  Jehovah  before  the 
assembled  celebrities  of  Bau.  What  a  triumph  for 
the  Gospel  of  Christ!  Before  crowds  of  those 
whom  he  had  so  fearfully  wronged,  the  king  stood 
up  and  confessed— "I  have  been  a  bad  man.  The 
missionary  wanted  me  to  embrace  Christianity, 
but  I  said  I  will  continue  to  fight.  God  has  singu- 
larly preserved  my  life.  I  acknowledge  Him  as  the 
only  true  God." 


156  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Another  remarkable  convert  in  these  early  days 
of  missions  in  Fiji  was  Joel  Bulu,  whose  min- 
istry continued  for  more  than  fifty  years. 

Miss  Gordon  Cumming  says:  "The  first  to 
welcome  us  on  our  landing  at  Bau  was  the  native 
minister,  Joel  Bulu,  a  fine  old  Tongan  chief.  His 
features  are  beautiful,  his  color  clear  olive;  he  has 
gray  hair  and  a  long,  silky,  gray  beard.  He  is  just  my 
ideal  of  what  Abraham  must  have  been,  and 
would  be  worth  a  fortune  for  an  artist  as  a  patri- 
archal study.  His  faith  is  an  intense  reality.  I 
have  rarely  met  any  man  so  perfectly  simple,  or 
so  unmistakably  in  earnest." 

At  that  time  his  work  was  nearly  over,  and  he 
soon  went  home  to  his  Master.  This  experience 
is  a  wonderful  testimony  to  the  power  of  the  "old, 
old  story." 

The  phenomenal  spiritual  quickening  which 
brought  about  these  conversions  was  the  turning 
point  in  the  history  of  Fiji.  The  midnight  was 
past,  the  dawn  had  already  begun  to  break,  the 
joyful  sunrise  was  near  at  hand.  Cannibalism 
soon  ceased  altogether,  idolatry  was  banished, 
and  intertribal  wars  were  known  no  longer. 
Scores  and  hundreds  of  church  buildings  were 
erected,  some  of  them  surprisingly  large  and 
comely.     Of  one  of  these  sanctuaries  it  has  been 


HOW  CHRIST  CONQUERED  FIJI    157 

written:  "Mbau,  which  was  formerly  an  Acel- 
dama, is  now  the  Jerusalem  of  Fiji,  whither  the 
tribes  go  up  to  worship.  It  has  a  fine  stone  church, 
97  by  45  feet  inside  measurement,  with  walls  two 
and  a  half  feet  thick.  This  was  built  from  the 
stone  gathered  from  the  foundations  of  fifteen 
temples.  The  font  is  made  out  of  a  stone  upon 
which  formerly  human  victims  of  cannibal  orgies 
were  dashed.  In  1874  the  islands  became  a 
British  possession,  and  ever  since  have  been 
blessed  with  civil  order  and  good  government. 

It  is  now  over  seventy  years  since  the  mission- 
aries entered  these  abodes  of  darkness,  and  sixty 
since  the  great  awakening  began,  and  how  is  it 
with  Fiji  today  .^  Almost  the  entire  population 
is  nominally  Christian.  The  sanctuaries  of  wor- 
ship number  826,  and  at  about  1000  points  the 
Gospel  is  regularly  preached.  There  is  slight 
need  of  missionaries,  so  that  only  13  are  employed, 
but  with  76  native  ministers,  nearly  3000  local 
preachers,  and  about  6000  class  leaders  for  as- 
sistants. In  the  1450  schools  2700  teachers 
impart  instruction.  The  church  members  number 
more  than  36,000,  and  17,000  more  are  in  training 
for  membership,  while  of  the  117,000  inhabitants 
no  less  than  92,000  are  attendants  upon  public 
worship!      Think    what    this    statement    means. 


158  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Probably  nowhere  upon  the  face  of  the  globe  are 
Sabbath  observance,  Bible  reading,  and  daily 
family  worship  so  nearly  universal  as  among  the 
Fijians!  Of  course  the  type  of  piety  is  not  es- 
pecially high,  for  the  race  is  tropical,  and  genera- 
tions are  required  to  eliminate  from  the  blood  the 
virus  of  rank  paganism.  But,  what  a  marvelous 
transformation  has  been  wrought !  What  power 
but  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  might  of 
the  Spirit,  could  work  a  miracle  so  stupendous  ? 


Chapter  IX 
JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON,  MISSION- 
ARY BISHOP  OF  MELANESIA 

BY 

Rev.  John  Rutherford,  B.A. 


Chapter  IX 
JOHN    COLERIDGE    PATTESON 

TN  the  heroic  missionary,  John  Coleridge  Patte- 
son,  we  have  a  typical  example  of  modern 
Christian  martyrs.  The  story  of  his  life  is  full  of 
inspiration  and  instruction.  Born  in  London, 
1827,  and  killed  at  Nikapu,  1871,  John  Coleridge 
Patteson's  was  one  of  the  shortest  lives  and  prom- 
inent in  modern  missionary  endeavor,  yet  one  of 
the  most  useful  in  testimony  to  God.  Some 
characters  are  a  tonic  and  a  stimulant;  to  enter 
within  their  circle  is  to  breathe  a  bracing  atmos- 
phere, due  not  so  much  to  mental  gifts  as  to  manly 
attributes  and  the  manifest  Christ-life. 

Patteson's  whole  course  was  onward  and  up- 
ward. His  was  one  of  the  purest,  saintliest,  and 
most  heroic  of  characters,  conspicuous  for  truth 
and  love.  Absolutely  genuine,  he  had  also  a 
feminine  gentleness.  His  sincerity  constrained 
others  to  trust  him,  while  his  love  warmed  and 
won  them,  and  welded  them  into  unity  with  him. 
These  traits  may  be  traced  to  his  parents,  as  a 
heritage:     his    father,    Justice    Patteson,  was  an 


161 


i62  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

English  judge,  conspicuous  for  sterling  integrity; 
popular,  but  not  at  the  expense  of  principle,  the 
love  of  truth  permeating  his  being  as  veins  of 
metal  run  through  the  rock.  His  son  always  felt 
that  whatever  was  best  in  him  was  largely  due 
to  his  father's  sturdy  backbone  of  principle,  sup- 
plemented and  complemented  by  his  mother's 
gentleness,  which  was  not,  however,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  firmness.  She  exacted  implicit  and 
unhesitating  obedience,  but  her  authority  was 
steeped  in  love.  Her  boy  needed  such  training, 
for  he  had  a  tendency  to  passionate  anger,  and  a 
natural  indolence,  both  of  which  he  had  need 
to  overcome. 

Coleridge,  or  Coley  as  the  boy  was  called,  was 
not  a  model  boy,  yet  his  good  qualities  were  in  the 
ascendant.  His  leading  characteristic  was  a  rev- 
erent and  religious  spirit  which  seems  to  have 
slowly  and  surely  subdued  inherent  defects,  and 
made  it  manifest  that  God's  grace  had  the  upper 
hand  in  the  boy's  life. 

When  but  six  years  old  he  hinted  his  desire  to 
be  a  clergyman,  greatly  to  his  mother's  delight. 
On  his  fifth  birthday  his  father  gave  him  a  Bible, 
which  he  early  learned  to  read  and  love;  and  on 
one  occasion  when  loudly  called  for,  he  asked  a 
few  minutes  more  "just  to  finish  the  binding  of 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     163 

Satan  for  a  thousand  years. "  This  same  Bible  was, 
twenty-seven  years  later,  used  in  his  consecration 
as  bishop. 

Some  special  influences  shaped  him  for  the 
mission  field.  One  was  the  atmosphere  of  a  Chris- 
tian home,  and  his  first  impulse  came  at  a  very 
early  age.  After  listening  with  intense  interest  to 
the  story  of  a  missionary  bishop  who  had  expe- 
rienced a  severe  hurricane  in  his  field  of  labor, 
he  exclaimed:  "WTien  I  grow  up,  I  am  going  to 
be  a  bishop  and  have  a  hurricane,  too ! " 

After  attending  an  elementary  school  in  Devon- 
shire he  was  sent  to  Eton  where  he  endeared  him- 
self to  the  masters  and  his  comrades.  In  his  own 
private  room  he  had  daily  regular  readings  of 
the  Bible  with  his  brother,  his  cousin  and  a  friend 
or  two;  but  the  boys  were  so  shy  about  it  that 
they  kept  an  open  Shakespeare  on  the  table,  with 
an  open  drawer  below  in  which  the  Bible  was 
placed,  and  which  was  shut  at  the  sound  of  a  hand 
on  the  door! 

In  1 841  an  event  occurred  which  was  destined 
to  exert  the  strongest  influence  over  young  Patte- 
son's  future.  In  that  year  the  Rev.  George 
Augustus  Selwyn  was  appointed  to  the  diocese 
of  New  Zealand.  Mrs.  Selwyn's  parents  had 
always   been   intimate   with   the   Patteson  family, 


i64         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

and  daily  intercourse  had  formed  a  bond  of  friend- 
ship between  the  Bishop  and  young  Coley.  On 
October  31st  Coley  writes: 

"  I  heard  the  Bishop  in  the  evening.  It  was 
beautiful  when  he  talked  of  his  going  out  to  found 
a  church  and  then  to  die  neglected  and  forgotten. 
All  the  people  burst  out  crying,  he  was  so  very 
much  beloved  by  his  parishioners.  He  spoke  of 
his  perils  and  putting  his  trust  in  God;  and  then 
when  he  had  finished  I  think  I  never  heard  any- 
thing like  the  sensation,  a  kind  of  feeling  that  if 
it  had  not  been  on  so  sacred  a  spot,  all  would  have 
exclaimed  'God  bless  him!'" 

One  remarkable  sentence  that  influenced  Coley 
was  this:  "As  we  are  giving  up  our  best  in  sending 
forth  our  cherished  and  chosen  sons,  so  let  there 
go  forth  a  consenting  offering;  let  us  give  this  day 
largely  in  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  as  Christian 
men  to  Christ  our  will,  and  He  will  graciously 
accept  the  offering."  So,  while  others  were  giving 
gold  and  silver,  the  Eton  lad  of  fourteen  gave  him- 
self. Not  long  after,  Bishop  Selwyn,  calling  to 
say  "Good-by,"  asked  Lady  Patteson,  ''Will 
you  give   me  Coley  f" 

He  knew  nothing  of  the  effect  of  his  sermon 
upon  her  boy,  but  God  did,  and  the  mother  did 
not  shrink  from  the  sacrifice.    When  Coley  himself 


THE    HOUSE    OF    A    \.\TI\-E    CHIEF.    1-ITI    TST.AXDS. 


ixri'.RiDK  ()|-   \  (  iiiij-s  Horsi:.  i-ijr  islands. 


SOQU,   A   CHIEF   IN   THE   SOLOMON    ISLANDS. 


LEATHER  MONEY   USED    IN    SANTA   CRUZ    ISLAND. 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     165 

made  a  like  request  she  encouraged  his  desire, 
promising  that  if,  with  growth  of  years,  this  purpose 
ripened,  he  should  be  free  to  follow  it. 

He  faithfully  pursued  his  course,  winning  popu- 
larity by  his  sunny  temper  and  manly  conduct. 
An  expert  swimmer,  a  dexterous  oarsman,  and  at 
cricket  captain  of  the  Eton  eleven,  he  was  one  of 
the  famous  athletes  of  his  day.  Tho  full  of  fun 
and  frolic,  his  conduct  was  ever  that  of  an  earnest, 
consecrated  man,  and  his  influence  over  his  associ- 
ates was  unbounded.  On  one  occasion,  presiding 
at  the  annual  dinner  of  the  eleven,  a  student  started 
an  objectionable  song.  He  promptly  ordered  it 
stopped,  adding:  "If  not,  I  shall  leave  the  room." 
It  did  not  stop,  and  followed  by  several  others  he 
at  once  withdrew,  sending  back  word  that  if  no 
apology  was  offered  he  would  leave  the  eleven. 
Dismayed  at  losing  so  skilful  a  captain,  an  apology 
was  promptly  made. 

From  Eton  he  went  to  Balliol  College,  Oxford, 
where  he  distinguished  himself,  especially  as  a 
linguist.  He  won  a  fellowship  at  Merton  College 
and  later  studied  in  Dresden  and  spent  some  years 
in  foreign  travel.  In  1853,  he  was  ordained,  and 
took  a  curacy  at  Alfington;  but  less  than  a  year 
later,  when  Bishop  Selwyn  returned  to  England  in 
search  of  helpers,  the  old   purpose,  dormant  for 


i66         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

twelve  years,  was  reawakened,  and  the  young 
curate  offered  to  exchange  his  home  parish  for 
work  among  the  cannibals  of  the  South  Seas. 

A  view  of  the  usefulness  of  all  studies  to  the 
Christian  minister  is  well  given  in  a  letter  Patteson 
wrote  to  the  same  friend :  "We  worked  together  once 
at  Dresden.  Whatever  we  have  acquired  in  the 
way  of  accomplishments,  languages,  love  of  art 
and  music,  everything  brings  us  into  contact  with 
somebody  and  gives  us  the  power  of  influencing 
them  for  good,  and  all  to  the  glory  of  God." 

Of  his  personal  appearance  it  is  said:  "The  most 
striking  feature  was  his  eyes,  which  were  of  a  very 
dark  clear  blue,  full  of  an  unusually  deep,  earnest, 
and,  so  to  speak,  inward  yet  far-away  expression. 
His  smile  was  remarkably  bright,  sweet  and  affec- 
tionate, like  a  gleam  of  sunshine,  and  was  one 
element  of  his  great  attractiveness.  So  was  his 
voice  which  had  the  rich,  full  sweetness  inherited 
from  his  mother's  family,  and  which  always  excited 
a  winning  influence  over  the  hearers.  Thus,  tho 
not  a  handsome  man,  he  was  more  than  commonly 
engaging,  exciting  the  warmest  affection  in  all  who 
were  concerned  with  him,  and  giving  in  return  an 
immense  amount  of  interest  and  sympathy  which 
only  became  intensified  to  old  friends  while  it 
expanded  towards  new  ones.'* 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     167 

After  consultation  he  resolved  that  his  desire 
should  not  be  entertained  during  his  father's  life- 
time, and  at  a  meeting  with  Bishop  Selwyn, 
Patteson  mentioned  the  subject  to  him.  The 
Bishop  replied:  "If  you  think  about  doing  a  thing 
of  tha't  sort,  it  should  not  be  put  off  till  you  are 
getting  on  in  life.  It  should  be  done  with  your  full 
strength  and  vigor."  Patteson  thereupon  laid 
the  matter  before  his  father,  and  as  the  result  of  an 
interview  and  consultation  between  the  Bishop  and 
Sir  John  Patteson  it  was  decided  that  no  bar  should 
be  put  in  the  way.  The  Bishop  then  said  to  young 
Patteson:  "Now  my  dear  Coley,  having  ascertained 
your  own  state  of  mind,  and  having  spoken  at 
length  to  your  father  and  your  family,  I  can  no 
longer  hesitate,  as  far  as  you  recognize  any  power 
to  call  on  my  part,  to  invite  you  most  distinctly  to 
the  work." 

The  young  man  accepted,  and  with  this  purpose 
in  view  he  was  ordained  presbyter  by  Bishop 
Phillpctts  in  Exeter  Cathedral  in  September  of  the 
same  year.  On  the  25th  of  the  following  March 
on  board  the  Duke  of  Portland  he  sailed  for 
New  Zealand  with  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Selwyn. 

The  diocese  of  New  Zealand  was  at  this  time 
sufficiently  spacious,  including  the  multitudinous 
islands  of  the  South  Pacific  Ocean.     But    Bishop 


i68  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Selwyn  rightly  resolved  to  respect  the  work  of  the 
other  Protestant  missionaries,  thus  avoiding  any 
conflict  with  the  work  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society  or  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  But  the 
groups  of  islands  which  seem  to  form  a  fringe 
round  the  northeastern  curve  of  Australia,  Banks 
Islands  and  Solomon  Isles  together  with  part  of 
the  New  Hebrides,  were  almost  entirely  open 
ground,  and  amid  the  population  of  these  Mel- 
anesian  islands  Bishop  Selwyn's  work  chiefly  lay, 

Patteson's  first  trip  in  the  mission  ship,  the  South- 
ern Cross,  was  a  coasting  voyage  along  the  New 
Zealand  coast  in  company  with  Bishop  Selwyn; 
and  already  Patteson  was  becoming  naturalized 
for  his  work  in  Melanesia. 

"The  work  is  wholly  new,"  he  writes,  "and  in 
many  ways  quite  different  from  what  I  expected, 
e.g.,  my  duties  as  inspector  of  pots,  pans,  hammocks, 
etc.,  as  purveyor  of  meat,  bread  and  vegetables, 
as  accountant-general,  and  pacifier  in  ordinary  of 
all  quarrels,  discontents,  murmurings,  etc.,  among 
sailors  and  officers,  as  tutor  to  two  rough  young 
colonial  youths  that  the  Bishop  brought  from  the 
south,  hoping  the  Archdeacon  will  lick  them  into 
shape  at  the  College.  All  these  things  are  new, 
and  I  confess,  rather  distasteful  to  me;  but  I  am 
getting  more  accustomed  to  the  various  duties  that 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     169 

were  at  first  really  hard,  and  hope  to  think  nothing 
of  them  soon." 

Before  this  first  voyage  was  over  Patteson  was 
promoted  to  take  command  of  the  vessel.  To  a 
friend  in  England  he  writes: 

"  You  ask  me  where  I  am  settled.  Why,  settled, 
I  suppose  I  am  never  to  be:  I  am  a  missionary 
you  know,  not  a  'stationary.'  But  however  my 
home  is  the  Southern  CrosSy  where  I  live  always,  in 
harbor  as  well  as  at  sea,  highly  compassionated  by  all 
my  good  friends  here,  and  highly  contented  myself 
with  the  sole  possession  of  a  cozy  little  cabin  nicely 
furnished  with  table,  lots  of  books  and  my  dear 
father's  photograph  which  is  an  invaluable 
treasure  and  comfort  to  me.  In  harbor  I  live  in 
the  cabin.  It  is  hung  round  with  barometers 
(aneroids)  sympiesometers,  fixed  chests  for  chro- 
nometers, charts,  etc.  Of  course  wherever  the 
Southern  Cross  goes  I  go  too,  and  I  am  a  most 
complete  skipper.  I  feel  as  natural  with  my 
quadrant  in  my  hand  as  of  old  with  a  cricket  bat. 
If  it  please  God  to  give  success  to  our  mission  work, 
I  may  some  day  be  settled  (if  I  live)  on  someone 
of  the  coundess  islands  of  the  South  Pacific,  look- 
ing after  a  kind  of  Protestant  Propaganda  College 
for  the  education  of  teachers  and  missionaries  from 
among  the  islanders;  but  this  is  all  uncertain." 


lyo  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

For  the  purpose  of  aiding  the  evangelization 
of  the  Pacific,  Bishop  Selwyn  brought  some 
Melanesian  boys  to  New  Zealand  that  he  might 
educate  them  to  become  teachers  to  their  own 
countrymen  and  he  founded  a  school  for  this 
purpose  at  Auckland.  The  Bishop  continued  to 
make  voyages  in  his  little  mission  vessel  to  various 
islands,  and  bring  the  boys  to  Auckland  for  train- 
ing and  instruction,  sending  them  back  to  their  own 
island  homes  for  the  winter  months. 

Along  with  Bishop  Selwyn,  Patteson  now  visited 
Norfolk  Island  and  Sydney  and  the  New  Hebrides. 
Of  one  of  the  native  New  Hebrideans  he  gives  this 
description: 

"He  had  expended  his  energies  upon  his  hair 
which  was  elaborately  dressed  after  a  fashion  that 
precluded  the  possibility  of  any  attention  being 
bestowed  upon  the  rest  of  his  person  which  was 
accordingly  wholly  unencumbered  with  any  cloth- 
ing. The  perfection  of  this  art  apparently  consisted 
in  gathering  up  about  a  dozen  hairs  and  binding 
them  firmly  with  grass  or  fine  twine  of  cocoanut 
fiber  plastered  with  coral  lime.  As  the  hair  grows 
the  binding  is  lengthened  also,  and  only  about 
four  or  five  inches  are  suffered  to  escape  from  this 
confinement  and  are  then  frizzed  and  curled  like  a 
mop  or  a  poodle's  coat." 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PAITESON     171 

In  Bauro,  one  of  the  Solomon  Islands,  there 
were  coral  crags  and  masses  of  forest  trees,  the 
creepers  literally  hundreds  of  feet  long  crawling 
along  ard  hanging  from  the  cliffs,  the  coconut 
trees  and  bananas  and  palms,  the  dark  figures 
of  men  on  the  edge  of  the  rocks  looking  down  upon 
them  from  among  the  trees,  the  people  assembling 
on  the  bright  beach — coral  dust  it  may  be  called, 
for  it  was  worn  as  fine  as  fine  sand — cottages 
peeping  out  from  among  the  trees,  and  a  pond  of 
fresh  water  close  by  winding  away  among  the  cliffs. 
And  then  the  contrast  between  God's  works 
and  the  sin  of  man!  Along  the  ridge-pole  of  one 
of  the  houses  which  Bishop  Selwyn  and  Mr. 
Patteson  visited  here  were  ranged  twenty-seven 
skulls,  not  vet  blackened  with  smoke,  and  bones 
were  scattered  outside,  for  a  fight  had  recently 
taken  place  near  at  hand.  In  this  Golgotha, 
the  Bishop,  using  his  little  book  of  Bauro  words, 
talked  to  the  people  and  plainly  told  them  that 
the  great  God  hated  wars  and  cruelty,  and  that 
such  ornaments  were  horrible  in  His  sight.  Iri 
took  it  all  in  good  part  and  five  boys  willingly 
accepted  the  Bishop's  invitation  to  New  Zealand. 

After  touchinjr  at  other  islands  thev  returned 
to  Auckland  where  Mr.  Patteson  set  himself  to 
work  away  with  twelve  Melanesians  at  languages, 


172  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

etc.,  with  the  highest  of  all  incentives  to  persever- 
ance, trying  to  form  in  them  habits  of  cleanliness, 
order,  and  decency. 

One  of  these  lads,  Wadrokala,  narrated  some 
facts  regarding  his  native  island:  there  the  chief 
was  called  Bula,  his  power  was  absolute,  and  he 
had  fifty-five  wives.  If  one  of  his  wives  offended 
him  he  sent  for  the  high  priest  who  cursed  her — 
simply  said,  "She  has  died,"  and  die  she  did.  A 
young  girl  who  refused  to  marry  him  was  killed 
and  eaten.  If  any  person  omitted  to  come  into  his 
presence  crouching,  the  penalty  was,  to  be  devoured. 
He  seemed  to  have  made  excuses  for  executions 
in  order  to  gratify  his  appetite  for  human  flesh 
which  was  esteemed  quite  a  delicacy.  Every  one 
dreaded  him,  and  when  at  last  he  died  a  natural 
death,  his  chief  wife  was  strangled  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

Already  Patteson  and  his  work  were  so  com- 
mending themselves  to  Bishop  Selwyn  that  in  a 
letter  to  Sir  John  Patteson  he  wrote:  "You  know 
in  what  direction  my  wishes  tend,  viz. :  that  Coley, 
when  he  comes  to  suitable  age  and  has  developed, 
as  I  have  no  doubt  he  will,  a  fitness  for  the  work, 
should  be  the  first  island  bishop  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  which  you  and  your  brother  judge  and 
Sir  W.  Farquhar  are  trustees;  that  Norfolk  Island 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     173 

should  be  the  see  of  the  bishop,  because  the 
character  of  its  population,  the  salubrity  of  its 
climate,  and  its  insular  position  make  it  the  fittest 
place  for  the  purpose." 

The  missionary  voyages  in  the  Southern  Cross 
continued  to  be  made  from  time  to  time.  In 
1857  they  "visited  sixty-six  islands  and  landed 
eighty-one  times,  wading,  swimming,  etc.;  all 
most  friendly  and  delightful;  only  two  arrows 
shot  at  us,  and  only  one  went  near,  so  much  for 
savages.  I  wonder  what  people  ought  to  call 
sandalwood  traders  and  slave-masters  if  they 
call  my  Melanesians  savages." 

In  1858  Patteson  was  put  on  shore  at  the  island 
of  Lifu  to  reside  among  the  natives  for  a  few- 
months.  Life  there  and  in  the  other  islands  caused 
him  to  desire  that  many  more  missionaries  should 
be  sent  out.  He  contrasts  in  this  respect  the 
French  Roman  Catholic  missions,  so  strongly 
manned,  with  the  feebleness  in  numbers  shown 
by  the  English  Protestant  missions.  Missionaries 
should  possess,  he  says,  various  qualifications, 
should  be  able  to  make  a  chair,  a  table,  a  box, 
should  be  able  to  furnish  a  cottage,  fell  trees,  saw 
planks,  mix  lime.  "Every  missionar}'  ought  to 
be  a  carpenter,  a  mason,  something  of  a  butcher 
and    a   good    deal    of    a   cook.      Suppose   yourself 


174  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

without  a  servant  and  nothing  for  dinner  tomorrow 
but  some  potatoes  in  the  barn  and  a  fowl  running 
about  in  the  yard.  That's  the  kind  of  thing  for 
a  young  fellow  going  mto  a  new  country  to  imagine 
to  himself.  If  a  little  knowledge  of  glazing  could 
be  added,  it  would  be  a  grand  thing,  just  enough 
to  fit  in  panes  to  window  frames,  which  last  of 
course  he  ought  to  make  himself.  To  know  how 
to  tinker  a  bit  is  a  good  thing;  else  your  only  sauce- 
pan or  tea  kettle  may  be  lying  by  you  useless  for 
months.  In  fact  if  I  had  known  all  this  before 
I  should  be  just  ten  times  as  useful  as  I  am  now. 
If  any  one  you  know  thinks  of  emigrating  or 
becoming  a  missionary,  just  let  him  remember 
this!" 

With  the  year  i860  a  new  period  began  In 
Patteson's  life.  He  had  now  worked  for  four  years 
under  Bishop  Selwyn,  but  of  late  he  had  been  left 
more  to  act  on  his  own  judgment.  He  had  not 
completed  his  thirty-third  year  and  was  in  his 
fullest  bodily  and  mental  strength.  Bishop  Sel^syn 
now  proposed  to  Patteson  that  he  should  accept 
the  appointment  of  missionary  bishop  of  the  West- 
ern Pacific  Isles.  Patteson  with  much  modesty 
had  certainly  never  sought  for  such  an  office,  but 
neither  did  he  see  it  right  to  refuse  it.  Meantime 
the  missionary  voyages  went  on  as  before;  but  the 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     175 

Southern  Cross  made  her  last  trip  in  i860,  for  in 
that  year  she  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  New 
Zealand. 

On  Sunday,  February  24th,  1861,  John  Coleridge 
Patteson  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Melanesia  in 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Auckland.  He  refers  to  the 
consecration  in  a  letter  in  which  he  says:  "Those 
nights  when  I  lie  down  in  a  long  hut  among  forty 
or  fift}'  naked  men,  cannibals,  the  only  Christian 
in  the  island,  that  is  the  time  to  pour  out  the  heart 
in  prayer  and  supplication  that  they — those  dark 
wild  heathens  about  me— may  be  turned  from 
Satan  unto  God.  And  now  to  me  it  is  committed 
to  'hold  up  the  weak,  heal  the  sick,  bind  up  the 
broken,  bring  again  the  outcasts,  seek  the  lost,' 
those  beautiful,  beautiful  words!  How  I  held 
tight  my  Bible  that  dear  Father  gave  me  on  my 
fifth  birthday,  with  both  hands,  and  the  Bishop  held 
it  tight  too,  as  he  gave  me  that  charge  in  the  name 
of  Christ:  and  I  saw  in  spirit  the  multitudes  of 
Melanesia  scattered  as  sheep  amidst  a  thousand 
isles." 

Soon  he  set  out  on  his  first  voyage  as  missionary 
bishop  in  the  Dunedin,  a  vessel  not  suitable  for 
such  work,  but  which  had  been  patched  up  for  the 
cruise.  Touching  at  Krromanga  in  the  New 
Hebrides,   the   island   where   John   Williams  was 


176  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

killed,  but  now  occupied  by  the  Presbyterian 
Mission,  the  Bishop  found  that  the  missionary, 
Rev.  Mr.  Gordon,  and  his  wife,  had  both  been 
murdered  by  the  heathen  natives.  They  had  been 
buried  in  the  same  grave,  and  the  natives  had 
fenced  it  round.  And  now,  eighteen  days  after- 
wards, on  June  7th,  the  Bishop  with  many  anxious 
thoughts  read  the  burial  service  over  the  grave. 

A  fresh  voyage  was  made  in  the  Sea  Breeze^ 
a  chartered  vessel  of  70  tons — a  successful  voyage; 
and  from  no  less  than  eight  islands  were  young  peo- 
ple received  for  the  school  at  Auckland,  so  that 
on  the  arrival  of  these  scholars  there  were  under 
Christian  instruction  no  fewer  than  fifty-one 
Melanesian  men,  women  and  young  lads,  gathered 
from  twenty-four  islands.  "When  you  remember 
that  at  Santa  Cruz,  e.g.,  we  have  never  landed 
before,  and  that  this  voyage  I  was  permitted  to  go 
ashore  at  seven  different  places  in  one  day,  during 
which  I  saw  about  1200  men;  that  in  all  these 
islands  the  inhabitants  are,  to  look  at,  wild,  naked, 
armed  with  spears  and  clubs,  or  bows  and  poisoned 
arrows;  that  every  man's  hand  (as,  alas!  we  find 
only  too  soon  when  we  live  among  them)  is  against 
his  neighbor,  and  scenes  of  violence  and  bloodshed 
among  themselves  are  of  frequent  occurrence;  and 
that  throughout  the  voyage  (during  which  I  landed 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     177 

between  seventy  and  eighty  times)  not  one  hand 
was  Hfted  up  against  me,  not  one  sign  of  ill-will 
exhibited;  you  will  see  why  I  speak  and  think  with 
real  encouragement  and  thankfulness  of  a  voyage 
accompanied  with  results  so  wholly  unexpected. 
I  say  results;  for  the  effecting  of  a  safe  landing  on 
an  island,  and  much  more  the  receiving  of  a 
native  lad  from  it,  is  in  this  sense  a  result,  that  the 
great  step  has  been  made  of  commencing  an  ac- 
quaintance with  the  people." 

Of  some  of  the  incidents  of  this  voyage  he  writes: 
"It  would  be  the  work  of  days  to  tell  you  of  all  our 
adventures.  How  at  Malanta  I  picked  two  lads 
out  of  a  party  of  thirty-six  in  a  grand  war-canoe 
going  on  a  fighting  expedition — and  very  good 
fellows  they  are;  how  we  filled  up  our  water- 
casks  at  Aurora,  standing  up  to  our  necks  in  the 
clear,  cool  stream  rushing  down  from  the  cataract 
above,  with  the  natives  assisting  us  in  the  most 
friendly  manner;  how  at  Santa  Maria  which  till 
this  year  we  never  visited  without  being  shot  at, 
I  walked  for  four  or  five  miles  far  inland  wherever 
I  pleased,  meeting  great  crowds  of  men  all  armed 
and  suspicious  of  each  other — indeed  actually 
fighting  with  each  other — but  all  friendly  to  me ;  how 
at  Espiritu  Santo  when  I  had  just  thrown  off  my 
coat  and  tightened  my  belt  to  swim  ashore  through 


178  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

something  of  a  surf,  a  canoe  was  launched,  and 
without  more  ado  a  nice  lad  got  into  our  boat  and 
came  away  with  us,  without  giving  us  the  trouble 
of  taking  a  swim  at  all;  how  at  Florida  Island, 
never  before  reached  by  us,  one  out  of  some  eighty 
men,  young  and  old,  standing  all  round  me  on  the 
reef,  to  my  astonishment  returned  with  me  to  the 
boat,  and  without  any  opposition  from  the  people 
quietly  seated  himself  by  my  side  and  came  away 
to  the  schooner,  etc." 

The  spirit  in  which  he  did  his  work  was  that  on 
those  fair  islands  he  saw  hundreds  of  men  ignorant 
of  God,  wild  men,  cannibals,  addicted  to  every 
vice.  He  knew  that  Christ  died  for  them,  and 
that  the  Gospel  message  was  meant  for  them  too. 
How  could  he  carry  it  to  them  .?  How  find  an 
entrance  among  them  .'' 

'  In  February,  1863,  the  new  Southern  Cross 
arrived  safely  from  England  to  the  great  satisfac- 
tion of  Bishop  Patteson.  Soon  the  vessel  was  made 
ready  for  sea,  and  approved  herself  entirely  to  her 
owner's  satisfaction,  a  worthy  mission  vessel.  A 
visit  in  the  interest  of  the  mission  was  made  to 
Australia  where  the  churches  pledged  themselves 
to  bear  the  annual  expenses  of  the  voyages  of  the 
Southern  Cross. 

Considerable  progress  had  now  been  made  in  the 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     179 

work  of  the  mission,  baptisms,  confirmations, 
marriages,  etc.  The  Gospel  of  Luke  had  also  been 
printed  in  the  Mota  language.  The  mission 
scholars  at  Auckland  had  largely  assisted  in  the 
printing  of  that  Gospel  and  also  in  that  of  the 
Acts. 

In  1867  the  Bishop  removed  his  home  and  the 
headquarters  of  the  mission  from  Auckland  to 
Norfolk  Island.  This  isolated  island  lies  midway 
between  New  Zealand  and  New  Caledonia.  It 
was  now  occupied  by  the  Pitcairners,  i.e.,  by  the 
descendants  of  the  mutineers  of  the  Bountyy  who 
were  a  civilized  European  community,  and  its  sit- 
uation was  thought  to  be  much  more  suitable  than 
that  of  New  Zealand  had  been  as  a  center  for  the 
work  of  the  Melanesian  Mission. 

In  that  year  Bishop  Patteson  writes  of  the  usual 
method  followed  at  his  visitation  of  the  islands: 
"In  these  introductory  visits  scarcely  anything  is 
done  or  said  that  resembles  mission  work  as  in- 
vented in  stories  and  described  by  the  veiy  vivid 
imagination  of  sensational  writers.  The  crowd  is 
great,  the  noise  greater,  the  heat,  the  dirt,  the 
inquisitiveness,  the  endless  repetition  of  the  same 
questions  and  remarks,  the  continual  requests 
for  a  fish-hook,  for  beads,  etc.  This  is  somewhat 
unlike   the   interesting   pictures   in   a   Missionary 


i8o  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Magazine,  of  an  amiable  individual  very  correctly 
got  up  in  a  white  tie  and  black  tailed  coat,  and 
a  group  of  very  attentive,  decently  clothed  and 
nicely  washed  natives.  They  are  wild  with  ex- 
citement, not  to  hear  'the  good  news,'  but  to  hear 
how  the  trading  went  on,  'How  many  axes  did 
theysell  ?  How  many  bits  of  iron  ?'  Usually  if  we 
can  merely  explain  that  we  don't  come  to  trade, 
though  we  trade  to  please  them,  that  we  wish  to 
take  lads  and  teach  them,  we  are  obliged  to  be 
satisfied.  'Teach  them!  teach  them  what.?'  think 
the  natives.  Why,  one  old  hatchet  would  outweigh 
in  their  minds  all  that  boy  or  man  can  gain  from 
any  teaching.  What  appreciable  value  can  reading, 
writing,  wearing  clothes,  etc.,  have  in  their  eyes  ? 
So  we  must  in  first  visits  (of  which  I  am  now  think- 
ing) be  thankful  that  we  can  in  safety  step  on 
shore  at  all,  and  regard  the  merely  making  friends 
with  the  people  as  a  small  beginning  of  mission 
work." 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  an  interesting  event 
took  place  when  Bishop  Patteson  ordained  George 
Sarawia  as  deacon.  George  had  been  with  the 
Bishop  for  ten  years  and  was  justly  esteemed  for 
his  character  and  worth.  He  was  the  first  Mela- 
nesian  clergyman.  The  aim  which  the  Bishop 
put  before  himself  is  thus  expressed :  "  I  am  more 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     i8i 

than  ever  convinced  that  the  chiefest  part  of  our 
work  is  to  consist  in  training  up  Melanesian 
clergymen  and  educating  them  up  to  the  point  of 
faithfully  reproducing  our  simple  teaching.  We 
must  hope  to  see  native  self-supporting  Melanesian 
Churches,  not  weak  indolent  Melanesians  de- 
pendent always  on  an  English  missionary,  but 
steadfast,  thoughtful  men  and  women,  retaining 
the  characteristics  of  their  race  so  far  as  they  can 
be  sanctified  by  the  Word  of  God  in  prayer,  and 
without  any  of  the  useless  imitations  of  English 
modes  of  thought  or  the  superfluities  of  nineteenth- 
century  civilization." 

The  Kanaka  labor  traffic  had  now  begun  among 
the  islands  enlisting  its  unsuspecting  natives  to 
go  to  the  plantations  in  Fiji  and  Queensland.  The 
Bishop  felt  strongly  the  iniquity  of  this  trade  and 
how  sadly  it  hindered  his  work.  In  1869  and  1870 
the  labor  ships,  finding  that  a  sufficient  number  of 
willing  natives  could  not  be  procured,  began  to 
cajole  them  on  board.  Then  this  expedient  also, 
of  decoying  them  without  violence,  failed.  So 
rougher  means  were  resorted  to;  the  native  canoes 
were  upset  and  the  men  seized  while  struggling 
in  the  water.  All  endeavors  at  resistance  or 
rescue  were  met  with  the  use  of  fire-arms.  The 
natives    in    the    New    Hebrides    and    elsewhere 


i82  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

were  swept  off  in  such  numbers  that  some  of  the 
islands  lost  all  their  able-bodied  men  and  were  in 
danger  of  famine  from  lack  of  their  workers.  On 
one  of  the  islands  where  a  few  years  before  300  men 
used  to  assemble  on  the  beach  to  welcome  the 
Bishop  now  only  thirty  or  forty  were  left. 

Bishop  Patteson  protested  vigorously  but  in 
vain  against  this  fiendish  work.  By  and  by  the 
traders  began  to  use  the  Bishop's  influence  through- 
out the  islands  to  further  their  own  designs.  Some- 
times they  told  the  unsuspecting  natives  that  he 
had  sent  for  them;  sometimes  painted  their  vessels 
to  resemble  his  ship,  the  Southern  Cross,  and 
occasionally  they  went  so  far  as  to  array  a  sailor 
in  a  clerical  garb  and  hold  a  mock  service  on 
board.  As  a  result  of  such  infamous  wiles,  large 
numbers  of  natives  were  entrapped.  All  this  risked 
the  Bishop's  safety,  but  he  bravely  continued  his 
usual  trips  from  island  to  island. 

In  April,  187 1,  the  Bishop  started  from  Norfolk 
Island  on  what  proved  to  be  his  last  voyage  in 
the  Southern  Cross.  Landing  at  Whitsunday 
Island  he  was  told  that  a  "thief  ship"  had  carried 
off  some  of  their  people.  Star  Island  was  found 
nearly  depopulated.  Fifty  men  had  been  taken 
from  Florida;  they  had  gone  on  board  to  trade, 
but  were  instantly  clapped  under  hatches.     Some 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON     183 

canoes  had  been  upset  by  a  noose  from  the  labor 
vessel,  then  a  gun  was  fired,  and  while  the  natives 
tried  to  swim  away,  a  boat  was  lowered  which  pick- 
ed up  the  swimmers  and  carried  them  off.  It  was 
estimated  that  one-half  of  the  population  of  the 
Banks  Islands  over  ten  years  of  age  had  been 
taken  aw^ay.  The  Bishop  was  greatly  distressed. 
All  these  years  had  been  spent  in  preparing  teachers 
qualified  to  teach  their  own  people,  but  now,  when 
the  teachers  were  provided,  most  of  the  people  had 
been  taken  away  by  the  labor  vessels. 

But  on  the  island  of  Mota  matters  w^ere  very 
encouraging — not  less  than  forty  or  fifty  natives 
were  under  daily  tuition.  On  26th  June  the  first 
public  baptism  in  Mota  took  place;  and  a  coral- 
lime  church  building  was  now  finished;  it  was  the 
first  church  in  Mota.  The  next  Sunday  97  children 
were  baptized  at  four  villages. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  September,  1871, 
the  Southern  Cross  headed  for  Nikapu,  and  the 
Bishop  gathered  his  Melanesian  lads  around  him, 
strangely  choosing  for  his  last  talk  the  death  of 
Stephen,  little  knowing  that  he  was  to  act  anew 
the  part  of  the  first  martyr  that  day.  In  tones  never 
to  be  forgotten  he  quoted  the  words:  "Therefore, 
whatsoever  ye  have  spoken  in  darkness  shall  be 
heard  in  the  light,  and  that  which  ye  have  spoken 


i84         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

in  the  ear  in  closets  shall  be  spoken  on  the  house- 
tops. And  I  say  unto  you,  my  friends,  'Be  not 
afraid  of  them  that  kill  the  body,  and  after  that 
have  no  more  that  they  can  do'-' 

As  they  approached  the  coral  reef,  canoes  with 
natives  w^ere  seen  approaching.  Taking  with  them 
a  few  persons,  the  Bishop  and  his  companions 
entered  a  boat  and  pulled  toward  the  island.  The 
people  recognized  him  and  acted  strangely,  but 
with  the  unselfishness  and  courage  whereby  he 
ever  sought  to  disarm  suspicion,  he  put  himself  in 
their  power,  entering  one  of  their  canoes;  and  then 
his  companion,  Mr.  Atkins,  thought  he  heard  the 
word  "Tabu,"  which  with  this  race  refers  to  the 
offering  of  presents  to  an  intended  victim.  Some 
yams  and  fruit  were  put  before  the  Bishop.  The 
canoes  were  now  dragged  from  the  reef  into  the 
lagoon,  and  he  was  seen  to  land  and  disappear 
in  the  crowd.  With  intense  anxiety  his  friends 
watched  for  his  return.  Presently  the  men  in  one 
of  the  canoes  shouted,  "Have  you  anything  like 
this?"  and  a  shower  of  arrows  followed,  with 
cries  of  revenge.  "This  for  the  New  Zealand 
man ! "  "  This  for  Bauro  man ! "  "  This  for  Mota 
man!"  The  boat  sped  back  toward  the  ship  filled 
with  wounded  men.  Thp  Mr.  Atkins  was  danger- 
ously wounded,  he  insisted  on  at  once  returning 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PAITESON     185 

to  seek  for  the  Bishop.  The  native  boys  and  two 
sailors  volunteered  to  go  with  him,  and  at  last, 
as  the  tide  rose,  their  boat  crossed  the  reef.  A 
native  canoe  was  seen  to  float  toward  them. 
In  it  was  a  heap  which  one  of  the  sailors  thought 
to  be  a  man  in  ambush,  and  at  which  he  leveled 
his  pistol,  but  it  proved  to  be  the  body  of  the  dead 
bishop,  wrapped  carefully  in  a  mat,  and  upon  the 
breast  a  spray  of  native  palm  with  five  mysterious 
knots  tied  in  the  leaves,  and  beneath  the  palm 
five  bleeding  wounds,  each  wound  inflicted  in 
retribution  for  one  of  the  five  natives  who  had  died 
at  the  hands  of  the  white  men.  A  yell  of  triumph 
rang  along  the  beach  as  the  precious  burden  was 
borne  back  to  the  ship.  The  bishop's  face  was 
calm  and  full  of  peace,  and  the  next  day  the  pre- 
cious body  was  committed  to  its  sepulcher  in  the 
deep. 

One  of  the  native  Christians  wrote  of  their  dead 
bishop:  "As  he  taught  he  confirmed  his  word  with 
his  good  life  among  us,  as  we  all  know;  and  also 
that  he  perfectly  well  helped  any  one  who  might 
be  unhappy  about  anything,  and  spoke  comfort  to 
him  about  it;  and  about  his  character  and  conduct 
they  are  consistent  with  the  law  of  God  . . .  He  did 
nothing  to  gain  anything  for  himself  alone,  but 
he  sought  what  he  might  help  others   with;  and 


i86  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  reason  was  his  pitifulness  and  his  love.  And 
again  he  did  not  despise  any  one  nor  reject  anyone 
with  scorn,  whether  it  were  a  white  or  a  black 
person;  he  thought  them  all  as  one,  and  he  loved 
them  all  alike." 

Years  afterward,  when  Bishop  Selwyn  had 
succeeded  Patteson,  there  was  another  landing  at 
Nikapu.  The  visitors  were  received  by  the  old 
chief,  Moto,  and  one  of  the  survivors  of  the  kid- 
napped men  as  a  penalty  for  whom  the  life  of  the 
bishop  was  exacted.  The  visitors  were  taken  to 
the  hut  where  Patteson  had  sat  and  spoken  to  the 
people,  when,  looking  across  the  sea,  he  must  have 
seen  the  arrows  fly  across  at  the  boat;  and  it  was 
then  and  there  that  he  received  the  death-blow  on 
the  head  by  a  club,  the  five  wounds  being  afterward 
inflicted.  It  was  then  found  that  when  the  other 
people  learned  of  his  murder,  they  drove  the 
murderers  from  the  island,  and  the  man  who 
struck  the  first  blow  was  shot  dead  by  the  old 
chief. 

Bishop  Selviyn  and  his  friends  proposed  to 
place  a  cross  on  the  spot  where  Patteson  was 
supposed  to  have  been  killed,  but,  at  the  request 
of  the  natives,  who  desired  that  it  might  stand 
where  it  could  be  seen  from  the  sea,  this  memorial 
of  galvanized  iron,  with  a  burnished  copper  disk, 


JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESOX     187 

was  placed  on  an  eminence  overlooking  the  waves, 
bearing  this  inscription: 


In  Memory  of 
JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON 

MISSION-A-RY    BISHOP 

Whose  life  was  here  taken  by  those  for  whom  he 
would  gladly  have  given  it 


Bishop  Selwyn  and  his  party  knelt  where  the  mar- 
tyr fell,  and  repeated  the  collect  for  All  Saints'  Day: 
"Oh,  Almighty  God,  who  hast  knit  together  Thine 
elect  in  one  communion  and  fellowship  in  a  mystical 
body  to  Thy  Son  Christ,  our  Lord,  grant  us  grace 
so  to  follow  Thy  blessed  saints  in  all  virtues  and 
holy  and  godly  living,  that  w^e  may  come  to  those 
unspeakable  joys  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for 
them  that  love  thee.  Through  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Lord.    Amen." 


Chapter  X 

JAMES  WILSON,  THE  MISSIONARY 

SEA  CAPTAIN 

BY 

George  Smith,  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S., 

Author  of  "A  Short  History  of  Missions,"  "Life 

of  Henry  Martyn,"  etc.,  etc. 


Chapter  X 
JAMES  WILSON,  THE  MISSIONARY  SEA  CAPTAIN 

/^F  the  long  roll  of  men  sent  forth  by  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  from  Dr.  Vanderkemp 
down  to  David  Livingstone  and  Chalmers  of  New^ 
Guinea,  the  first  is  still  the  most  remarkable. 
He  was  James  Wilson,  ship  captain,  infidel, 
prisoner  of  the  French,  of  Hyder  Ali,  and  then 
the  first  to  volunteer  as  a  missionary  to  carry  the 
Gospel  in  the  good  ship  Duff  to  the  islands  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  The  story  of  Captain  James 
Wilson  is  unique  in  the  history  of  Christian 
missions,  so  full  of  holy  heroism  and  romance. 

A  century  and  a  half  ago  a  Captain  Wilson 
sailed  his  ship  in  the  trade  from  the  great  English 
port  of  Newcastle.  The  father  of  nineteen  chil- 
dren, he  could  not  afford  to  give  them  much 
schooling,  so  he  brought  up  the  boys  in  his  own 
ship  from  their  earliest  years.  His  youngest  son 
was  James,  who  thus  lived  at  sea,  amid  influences 
of  the  worst  kind,  at  a  time  when  the  mercantile 
marine  of  Great  Britain  was  at  its  lowest  moral 
point.     When   the  war  with   America  began,  the 

rgT 


192  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

youth  sought  a  career  on  land,  in  which  his  love 
of  adventure  could  be  gratified.  There  he  took 
part  in  the  battles  of  Bunker  Hill  and  Long  Island. 
The  close  of  the  War  for  Independence  set  him 
loose  for  other  deeds.  Returning  to  England,  so 
good  a  sailor  and  fighter  found  no  difficulty  in 
securing  a  mate's  berth  on  one  of  the  East  India 
Company's  famous  traders.  The  high  spirits  of 
the  youth  and  his  know^ledge  of  navigation  com- 
mended him  both  to  his  messmates  and  his  officers; 
but  he  had  not  been  long  at  Calcutta  w^hen  he 
found  that  money  was  to  be  made,  as  well  as  a 
reputation  to  be  gained,  in  the  local  mercantile 
or  transport  service;  for  that  he  left  the  East 
Indiaman. 

These  were  the  days  of  the  war  with  Repub- 
lican France  and  with  the  Mohammedan  ally  of  the 
French,  Hyder  Ali,  who  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
"Citizen"  Tippoo.  Captain  James  Wilson  again 
and  again  ran  the  blockade  which  the  French 
Admiral  Suffrein  for  a  time  established  on  the 
Madras  Coast,  carrying  military  stores  and  supplies 
to  the  great  Colonel  Sir  Eyre  Coote.  Courage  and 
skill  were  never  more  successfully  applied  than  by 
this  Newcastle  sailor,  whose  marine  and  military 
adventures  extended  from  Bunker  Hill  to  Nega- 
patam  in  the  East  Indies. 


JAMES  WILSON  193 

At  last,  Wilson's  over-boldness  led  to  his 
capture.  He  and  his  men  were  carried  to  the 
French  prison  at  Cuddalore,  where  he  found  the 
crew  of  another  British  ship.  Life  was  tolerable 
enough  for  the  officers  until  the  French  commander 
received  an  order  from  Admiral  SufFrein  to  deliver 
up  all  his  prisoners  to  the  tyrant  Hyder,  who  had 
deliberately  purchased  them  for  three  hundred 
thousand  rupees,  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  The  commander  and  his  officers  were 
indignant  at  the  baseness  of  the  transaction,  but 
they  had  no  alternative  save  obedience.  Wilson 
determined  to  save  his  own  life.  Carefully  ob- 
serving the  ramparts  of  the  fort  as  they  rose  from 
the  river,  he  dropped  down  at  nightfall  forty  feet 
into  the  water  below,  making  a  splash  which,  he 
felt  sure,  must  have  alarmed  the  sentries.  Thrice 
Wilson,  with  his  Bengali  servant  on  his  back, 
crossed  the  mouths  of  the  Coleroon,  and  was 
already  within  hail  of  Porto  Novo,  when  he  was 
challenged  b)'  one  of  Hyder  Ali's  sentries.  Again 
crossing  the  estuary,  he  found  a  canoe,  in  which  he 
hoped  to  reach  the  Danish  settlement  of  Tran- 
quebar.  Instead  of  this  he  was  discovered  by  a 
party  of  Hvder's  troopers,  who  stripped  him 
naked,  tied  his  hands  behind  him,  fastened  a  rope 
to  them,  and  drove  him  before  them  under  the 


194  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

burning  sun  some  forty  miles  to  his  old  prison. 
There  he  was  chained  to  a  British  soldier,  and 
thence  the  miserable  band  were  marched  on  foot 
some  two  hundred  miles  to  Hyder's  capital  and 
fortress  of  Seringapatam. 

The  horrors  of  that  captivity  have  been  de- 
scribed in  more  than  one  of  the  military  biographies 
and  histories  of  Great  Britain.  As  if  Wilson  had 
not  suffered  enough,  he  had  yet  to  undergo  much 
more  misery,  compared  with  which  death  itself 
were  better.  Hyder  Ali  offered  him  and  the  other 
captives  liberty  and  rewards  if  they  would  enlist  in 
his  army  and  profess  Islam.  If  not,  they  were 
threatened  with  tortures  long  and  lingering.  Some 
are  said  to  have  yielded.  But  James  Wilson,  tho 
ignorant  of  Christian  truth  and  religious  principles, 
was  a  brave  and  patriotic  man,  who  had  fought 
his  country's  battles  and  valued  her  civilization. 
He  refused,  as  the  majority  did,  and  was  at  once 
ordered  to  prison  with  a  body  of  a  hundred  and 
fifty-three  Highland  soldiers  of  Colonel  McLeod's 
regiment.  Irons  to  the  weight  of  thirty-two  pounds 
were  put  upon  him,  and  he  was  chained  to  a  fellow, 
similarly  loaded,  night  and  day.  Many  a  time, 
when  one  of  two  prisoners  died,  the  survivor  re- 
mained attached  to  the  festering  corpse.  In  an 
open   court-yard,   exposed   to   the   cold   wind    by 


JAMES  WILSON  195 

night  and  the  fierce  sun  by  day,  and  starved  till 
they  feared  to  put  a  finger  near  their  mouth  lest 
they  should  bite  it  off,  hundreds  of  Christian  cap- 
tives thus  lay,  and  rotted,  and  died  in  the  gloomy 
years  of  war  in  which,  in  South  India,  the  eight- 
eenth century  closed.  Wilson  would  have  died  of 
dysentery,  but  again  God's  long-suffering  prevailed, 
tho  he  knew  it  not.  Exchanging  his  miserable 
rice  diet  for  a  small  and  cheaper  millet,  he  un- 
consciously effected  a  violent  cure.  When  only 
thirty  out  of  a  hundred  and  fifty-four  survived, 
after  such  a  captivity  of  twenty-two  months.  Sir 
Eyre  Coote  inflicted  the  third  defeat  on  Hyder  AH, 
the  few  captives  were  released,  and  Captain  James 
Wilson  found  himself  in  Madras,  penniless  and 
impenitent. 

He  shipped  as  a  mate  to  Bencoolen  and  Java, 
where,  when  at  Batavia,  the  putrid  fever,  which 
was  so  fatal  to  the  Dutch,  well-nigh  carried  him 
off.  He  persisted  in  his  trading,  became  part  owner 
and  captain  of  the  ship,  and  at  last  achieved  the 
fortune  for  which  he  had  been  working  so  long. 
Ignorant  of  or  indifferent  to  the  divine  hand  which 
held  his  soul  in  life  and  which  was  gradually  pre- 
paring him  for  the  highest  form  of  service  to  the 
Master,  he  resolved  to  retire  to  England.  It  is  a 
curious  coincidence  that  John  Thomas  was  sur- 


196         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

geon  on  the  East  Indiaman  in  which  he  sailed. 
That  first  of  medical  missionaries,  who  was  about 
to  draw  William  Carey  away  from  the  islands  of 
the  Pacific,  on  which  the  Northamptonshire  shoe- 
maker had  set  his  heart,  to  Bengal,  made  James 
Wilson  only  more  determined  in  his  infidehty. 
Neither  the  persuasiveness  of  his  speech  nor 
the  gentleness  of  his  life  enabled  Dr.  Thomas  to 
lead  to  Christ  the  man  who  so  closely  resembled 
him  in  temper  and  in  adventures.  Thomas 
remarked  after  one  of  their  disputations  that  he 
had  more  hope  of  converting  the  heathen  or  Mo- 
hammedan lascars  than  Captain  Wilson.  Wilson 
landed  at  Portsmouth,  bought  a  house  and  garden 
at  Horndean,  in  Hampshire,  and  soon  became 
known  in  the  country  round  as  "a  worthy  gentle- 
man who  had  retired  to  affluence  and  ease  from 
the  East  India  service." 

He  was  only  thirty-six  years  of  age,  and  was  so 
well  satisfied  with  himself  that  he  had  no  conscience 
either  for  the  teaching  of  Providence  in  his  past 
eventful  life  and  preservation,  or  for  the  warnings 
of  Scripture.  He  was  a  Deist  of  the  old  school, 
and  he  gained  so  easy  an  intellectual  victory  over 
one  of  his  neighbors.  Captain  Sims,  a  godly  man, 
that  he  became  confirmed  in  his  scepticism. 

The  unable  to  give  the  self-sufficient  and  worldly 


JAMES  WILSON  197 

captain  any  other  reason  for  his  own  beHef  in  the 
Bible  than  this,  "He  that  beheveth  hath  the  witness 
in  himself,"  Sims  did  not  cease  to  care  for  his 
neighbor's  soul.  Accidentally,  as  it  seemed,  Sims 
had  his  minister,  Mr.  Griffin,  of  Portsea,  as  a  visitor 
on  a  day  when  he  was  asked  to  dine  with  Wilson. 
Sims  saw  his  opportunity.  Recurring  to  former 
debates,  he  appealed  to  his  minister  as  to  a  man 
equal  to  the  controversy.  Mr.  Griffin  deprecated 
discussion  in  such  circumstances,  lest  he  should 
be  suspected  of  being  present  by  some  underhand 
arrangement.  This  only  stimulated  Wilson,  who 
said :  "I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  converse  on 
the  evidences  of  the  so-called  divine  origin  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures,  and  I  never  met  the  clergy- 
man yet  whom  I  could  not  foil  in  a  quarter  of  an 
hour."  Thus  challenged,  the  young  minister 
accompanied  his  host  to  the  garden.  Later  as  Sims 
approached  them  in  the  evening  twilight  he  said: 
"Has  he  convinced  you,  captain  .?"  to  which  Wilson 
replied:  "I  will  not  say  much  about  that,  but  he 
has  said  some  things  I  shall  never  forget."  He 
went  to  Mr.  Griffin's  service  in  Portsea  on  the  next 
Sunday,  when  the  prayers  and  the  preachings 
alike  opened  his  heart  to  the  teaching  of  Paul,  in 
the  eighth  chapter  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
as  to  how  God  had  predestinated  men  to  be  con- 


198  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

formed  to  Himself  in  His  Son.  The  next  sermon 
showed  how  those  whom  He  did  predestinate  He 
also  called,  and  Wilson  saw  all  his  past  life  in  the 
light  of  that  revelation.  After  solitary  agonizing 
from  darkness  to  light,  the  proud  Deist,  now  a 
humble  and  joyful  believer,  visited  Mr.  Griffin  to 
tell  him  this:  "I  have  no  language  to  express  the 
happiness  I  now  feel.  The  gratitude  I  owe  to  God 
will,  I  hope,  be  expressed  in  the  life  I  have  yet  to 
live  by  my  zeal  in  His  service  bearing  some  propor- 
tion to  that  which  I  have  manifested  in  the  service 
of  Satan."  The  two  joined  in  magnifying  the 
grace  of  God. 

In  1796  James  Wilson  became  a  member  of 
Orange  Street  Chapel,  Portsea,  and  the  good  work 
was  completed  under  his  friend's  preaching  on 
the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
when  he  fully  comprehended  that  he  had  been 
saved  to  be  the  means  of  saving  others.  "What," 
he  now  ever  asked  himself,  "has  my  faith  induced 
me  to  do  for  others  V 

The  London  Missionary  Society  had  been 
founded  the  year  before,  and  its  directors  had  re- 
solved to  begin  operations  in  the  new  island  world 
revealed  by  Captain  Cook  in  his  three  voyages. 
They  appealed  for  volunteers  to  go  forth  as  the 
first  missionaries,  and  Captain  James  Wilson  was 


JAMES  WILSON  199 

the  first  to  volunteer.  He  placed  himself,  his  mar- 
velous experience,  and  his  fortune  practically  at 
the  disposal  of  the  society.  All  his  worldly  plans 
and  visions  vanished  in  the  light  of  the  heavenly 
vision,  to  which  he  was  no  longer  disobedient. 
After  frequent  journeys  to  and  from  London,  to 
make  preparations  for  the  voyage  which  he  was 
to  conduct,  he  sold  Horndean  and  went  up  to 
London.  On  June  28th,  1796,  he  purchased  the 
ship  Dujj  for  five  thousand  pounds,  and  on  August 
loth  sailed  from  the  Thames  under  this  reso- 
lution, "That  a  mission  be  undertaken  to  Ota- 
heite,  the  Friendly  Islands,  the  Marquesas,  the 
Sandwich,  and  the  Pelew  Islands,  in  a  ship  be- 
longing to  the  society,  to  be  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Wilson,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable  and  ex- 
pedient." 

Thus  was  the  missionary  sea  captain  made  for 
the  mission  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  began  the 
work  of  Christianizing  the  islands  of  the  sea, 
which  had  so  long  waited  for  His  law. 

Of  the  thirty  male  missionaries,  with  six  wives 
and  three  children,  who  embarked  on  board  the 
Duff  with  James  Wilson  as  commander,  his 
nephew,  William  Wilson,  as  mate,  and  a  crew  of 
twenty  others,  only  four  were  ordained  ministers. 
The  only  one  of  the  thirty  whose  name  has  come 


200         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

down  as  distinguished  in  missionary  history  was 
Henry  Nott,  a  bricklayer,  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
He  died  in  1844  after  forty-eight  years'  splendid 
service.  Dr.  Love,  the  secretary  of  the  society, 
warned  the  sanguine  supporters  of  the  new  and 
sacred  venture  that  accounts  of  solid  success  could 
not  be  expected  for  a  long  time.  "  Having  done 
our  utmost  to  begin  the  attempt  well,  let  us  follow 
it  up  and  mature  it  by  the  faith,  patience,  and 
prayers  of  years  to  come."  This  great  pioneer 
enterprise  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  has 
been  used  by  the  gracious  Head  of  the  Church  to 
bring  to  Himself  nearly  all  the  peoples  of  the  Pa- 
cific islands,  and  to  prepare  their  ocean  to  be,  in 
the  second  missionary  century,  the  great  highway 
of  the    Christian  nations. 

Captain  Wilson,  tho  more  experienced  than 
they  all,  received  a  letter  of  instructions  from  the 
directors.  He  was  told  to  proceed  to  Portsmouth 
to  join  the  East  India  convoy  there,  and  to  keep 
company  with  it  for  protection  in  that  time  of 
European  war;  to  procure  at  Teneriffe  four  pipes  of 
the  best  wine  in  hogsheads,  paying  by  draft  on 
the  society's  treasurer;  to  take  thence  bunches  of 
dried  grapes  for  planting  in  the  mission  settlements, 
and  pecks  of  wheat  and  seeds  of  tropical  fruits 
for  the  same  purpose.    Making  for  Rio  de  Janeiro, 


JAMKS  WILSON  201 

he  was  there  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  sugar,  tobacco, 
chocolate,  cochineal  plant,  and  other  vegetable 
products.  He  was  to  proceed  thence  by  way  of 
Cape  Horn  to  Tahiti,  but  if  baffled  by  contrary 
winds  to  bear  up  and  run  for  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

The  sphere  of  the  mission  was  declared,  by 
resolution  of  the  general  meeting,  to  be  "Otaheite, 
the  Friendly  Islands,  the  Marquesas,  the  Sand- 
wich and  the  Pelew  Islands."  But  while  it  was 
declared  desirable  to  introduce  the  Gospel  into 
several  islands,  it  was  pronounced  necessary,  if 
possible,  to  establish  it  in  one.  After  detailed 
suggestions  as  to  negotiations  with  the  chiefs  and 
the  settlement  of  disputes  through  "appealing  to 
the  decision  of  Divine  Providence  by  a  solemn 
and  religious  use  of  the  ancient  institution  of 
drawing  lots,"  Captain  Wilson  was  told  to  call 
at  the  East  India  Company's  Canton  factor)' 
for  a  return  cargo,  so  as  to  sail  back  to  Europe 
in  the  early  part  of  1798.  "You  are  accompanied 
by  the  affectionate  esteem  of  the  excellent  of  the 
earth;  and  ministering  spirits,  we  trust,  will  re- 
ceive the  welcome  charge  to  convoy  you  in  safety 
to  the  place  of  your  destination.  May  they  be 
glad  spectators  of  the  formation  of  a  Christian 
temple   in  these  heathen  lands,  and   thus  be  fur- 


202  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

nished  with  the  subject  of  a  new  song  to  Him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne  and  to  the  Lamb !" 

To  the  eye  of  sense  a  hundred  years  ago,  it 
looked  as  if  the  opinion  of  Captain  Cook  as  to  the 
destiny  of  the  Polynesians  were  more  likely  to 
prove  correct  than  that  of  Love,  Haweis,  Captain 
James  Wilson,  and  the  supporters  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  For  years  after  March  5th, 
1796,  when  Wilson  left  eighteen  of  the  thirty 
missionaries  on  Tahiti,  of  the  Society  group,  and 
the  others  on  Tongatabu,  of  the  Friendly  Islands, 
and  put  one  man,  William  Crook,  the  servant, 
ashore  on  the  Marquesas,  it  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  enterprise  were  to  be  a  failure.  In  March 
1798,  one  half  of  them  left  for  Sydney,  and  "gave 
up  the  work."  Only  in  1800  could  Nott  and 
Jefferson  build  a  church  and  preach  in  public. 
Not  till  18 12  did  it  seem  possible  that  there  could 
be  any  fruit,  when  King  Pomare  asked  Nott  for 
baptism.  Who  shall  picture  the  trial  of  faith 
which  that  heroic  missionary  had  patiently  borne 
these  sixteen  years,  while  deserted  by  nearly  all 
his  fellows,  and  treated  as  Noah  was  when  he  was 
a-building  the  ark.?  But  God's  long-suffering, 
reproduced  in  that  of  His  servant,  proved  as  ever 
to  be  "salvation  '*  to  races  as  to  individuals,  to  the 
sensual    Polynesians    and    cannibal    Melanesians 


JAMES  WILSON  203 

as  to  the  chosen  Israel  of  old,  and  every  evangelized 
dark  people  since.  From  Captain  Cook's  murder, 
and  even  John  Williams's  martyrdom,  to  the 
churches  of  Maoris  and  Fijians,  Erromangans 
and  Samoans,  what  a  difference  the  century  has 
wrought  out;  and  all  because  Henry  Nott  be- 
lieved the  promises  of  God,  commercial  and 
political  progress  has  been  made  possible,  and  the 
greatest  litterateur  of  this  generation,  the  Scottish 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  who  lies  on  the  hill  of 
Samoa,  among  the  people  whom  he  loved,  blessed 
the  South  Sea  missionaries  as  Darwin  did  at 
Tierra  del  Fuego! 

American  and  European  civilization  may  or 
may  not  in  time  kill  out  the  Negritos,  Papuans, 
and  Malays  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean; 
but  if  so,  that  will  be  due  to  the  white  men,  whose 
vices  and  greed  the  evangelists  of  Christendom 
have  sought  to  arrest,  and  would  have  anticipated, 
had  the  Church  of  the  eighteenth  century  been 
as  careful  to  obey  its  Lord  as  the  Royal  Society 
was  to  observe  the  transit  of  Venus!  And  what- 
ever earthly  destiny  the  God  of  nations  and  of 
missions  may  have  in  store  for  the  islanders  in 
the  coming  century,  this  much  is  certain,  that 
Christ,  wherever  He  has  been  preached  and  be- 
lieved on,  has  redeemed  them  from  the  terror  of 


204  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  devils  their  fathers  adored  for  deities,  as  Mil- 
ton sang;  has  given  many  of  them  a  pure  Hfe  and 
righteous  government;  has  filled  them  w^ith  the 
assured  hope  w^hich  takes  from  death  its  sting  and 
the  grave  its  victory,  and  reveals  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  opened  to  all  believers.  It  is  true  that, 
proportionally  to  population,  the  scattered  races 
and  confused  tongues  of  the  islands  have  had 
ten  times  more  missionaries  than  those  of  the  old 
civilizations  and  literatures  of  India,  since  Captain 
James  Wilson  escaped  from  the  dungeon  of  Tippoo, 
the  tiger  of  Mysore,  and  God  used  him  to  land 
Henry  Nott,  the  bricklayer,  in  Tahiti  and  the 
brave  solitary  Crook,  the  valet,  in  the  Marquesas. 
But  it  will  no  longer  be  the  part  of  politicians 
and  traders  to  taunt  Christendom  with  this  when, 
as  the  twentieth  century  advances,  the  whole  ocean 
becomes  in  the  highest  sense  worthy  of  its  name, 
and  proves  to  be  the  new  Mediterranean  of  the 
Antipodes,  the  busy  highway  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. 


Chapter   XI 

ROiMANCE  AND  REALITY  IN  THE 

CAROLINE  ISLANDS 

BY 

Theodora   Crosby  Bliss 

Formerly  a  Missionary  of  the  American  Board  in 

Micronesia,   Author  of  "With 

South  Sea  Folk" 


Chapter  XI 

ROMANCE  AND  REALITY  IN   THE  CAROLINE 

ISLANDS 

'T^HE  Caroline  Islands — or  New  Philippines,  as 
they  were  called  by  their  Spanish  discoverers — 
are  made  up  of  groups  within  a  group.  Kusaie, 
the  most  eastern  island  of  them  all,  stands  alone, 
isolated  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  water 
from  Pingelap,  its  nearest  neighbor.  It  is  of  vol- 
canic formation,  only  thirty-six  miles  in  circum- 
ference, yet  rising  some  2100  feet  above  the  sea 
level.  Here  dwell  the  gentle  and  lovable  Kusaians, 
speaking  their  own  language,  and  living  out  in 
peacefulness  their  uneventful  days. 

Pingelap  and  Mokil,  two  lovr-lying  but  not 
unpleasant  coral  islands,  come  next  in  a  westerly 
trend;  then,  fifty  miles  further  west,  Ponape's 
green  hills  rise  from  the  ocean,  not  so  high  as 
Kusaie,  but  sixty  miles  :n  circumference.  Some 
three  hundred  miles  to  the  southwest  lie  the  Mort- 
lock  Islands,  all  of  coral  formation.  Northwest  of 
these  is  the  Ruk  lagoon,  consisting  of  ten  high 
islands,  beautiful   for  situation,   and   very  fertile. 

207 


2o8  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Some  hundreds  of  miles  west  of  Ruk  is  Yap, 
another  high  island,  occupied  by  traders,  and  said 
to  be  more  nearly  civilized  than  any  island  of  the 
group — if  any  place  can  be  called  civilized  without 
being  also  Christianized.  Still  further  west  are 
the  Pelews,  or  Palau  Islands,  another  group  of 
high  islands  similar  to  Ruk. 

The  high  islands  of  Kusaie,  Ponape,  Ruk,  Yap, 
and  the  Pelews,  extending  in  a  chain  from  east  to 
west  through  the  Caroline  group,  have  rightly 
been  called  "the  gems  of  the  Pacific,"  even  as 
Hawaii  is  its  "paradise."  They  rise  to  a  height  of 
from  five  to  twenty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  are  covered  with  a  dense  tropical  growth  from 
the  fringe  of  mangrove  trees  growing  out  of  the 
sea  on  the  reef  to  the  summits  of  the  mountains 
where  single  rows  of  trees  stand  out  in  bold  relief 
against  the  sky.  The  separate  islands  are  made  up 
of  chains  of  mountains,  broken  by  deep  valleys,  in 
which  are  beautiful  rivers,  whose  waters  spring  out 
of  the  mountain  side,  falling  and  dashing  tumul- 
tuously  fifty  or  a  hundred  feet  to  the  valley  below, 
through  which  they  wind  like  silver  threads  to  the 
sea.  The  coast  is  broken  by  headlands  and  mag- 
nificent harbors,  deep  enough  for  the  largest 
vessels  afloat,  and  affording  safe  anchorage  for  a 
fleet  of  ships. 


i.r 


i  if  ""TtiTx  ^ifiW 


■  «a2  -7 :: — *^ 

l>   =  z  i^  > 
A'  i^  I-  I 


.  5        p 


THE   MISSION   SHIP   "MORNING   STAR"   NO.    4. 


THE   MISSION    COMI'OL'ND   ON    KUSAIE. 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  209 

These  high  islands  are  a  veritable  fairyland  of 
tropical  loveliness;  ferns  are  everywhere,  varying 
from  the  stately  tree  fern  to  the  drooping  parasite 
growing  from  the  branches  of  the  trees  and  the 
crevice  of  the  rock.  The  climate  is  delightful  and 
not  unhealthful,  tho  the  constant  rain  makes  some 
measure  of  precaution  necessar}-.  Hardly  a  day 
passes  without  several  showers,  followed  by  bril- 
liant sunshine.  This  abundant  rainfall  conduces 
to  the  healthfulness  of  the  islands,  as  it  washes 
away  the  decaying  vegetation,  which  would  other- 
wise be  a  fruitful  source  of  malaria,  and  leaves 
freshness  and  beauty  behind.  The  soil  of  these 
islands  is  productive  to  a  degree  unusual  except  on 
volcanic  soil ;  and  breadfruit,  pandanus,  pineapples, 
bananas  in  twelve  varieties,  coconuts,  yams,  and 
taro  are  indigenous,  while  mangoes,  guavas,  papa- 
yas, limes,  oranges,  lemons,  and  sweet  potatoes 
have  been  introduced.  While  there  is  very  little 
level  land  on  any  of  these  islands,  there  are  large 
tracts  on  the  mountain  sides  which  might  be 
cleared  and  cultivated  with  great  success,  tho  under 
the  present  conditions  the  great  distance  from  a 
market  prevents  this  being  done  with  any  thought 
of  profit.  Pigs,  cows,  chickens,  and  pigeons  have 
been  introduced,  and  the  waters  around  the  islands 
abound  with  fish,  turtle,  and  edible  crabs. 


210         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

The  hundreds  of  other  islands  in  this  Caroline 
group  are  all  of  coral  formation,  and  are  as  barren 
as  the  high  islands  are  fertile.  Rising  but  eight  or 
ten  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  w^ere  it  not  for 
the  protection  of  the  coral  reef  surrounding  them, 
they  would  long  since  have  been  devastated  by  the 
surging  waves.  This  reef,  however,  forms  a  natural 
breakwater.  The  waves  spend  their  force  on  its 
outer  edge,  then  roll  in  to  break  again,  with  gentler 
force,  upon  the  white  sands  of  the  shore. 

For  the  most  part  the  coral  islands  have  but 
three  natural  products:  the  breadfruit,  pandanus, 
and  coconuts.  On  these,  with  fish  caught  from 
the  sea,  the  people  depend  for  their  scanty  sub- 
sistence. On  some  of  the  islands  there  is  a  coarse 
variety  of  plantain  and  taro.  Pigs  and  chickens 
thrive,  but  no  larger  animals  are  found.  There  is 
no  really  fresh  water  on  these  islands.  The  brack- 
ish liquid  collects  in  pools,  usually  kept  full  by  the 
frequent  rains;  it  is  on  some  of  the  islands  fairly 
drinkable,  while  on  others  it  is  said  to  taste  like 
"diluted  epsom  salts." 

The  islands  teem  with  life.  With  the  mission- 
aries the  people  are  a  gentle,  kindly  folk,  unstable 
of  character,  yet  easily  to  be  entreated.  With 
unkind  treatment  they  show  all  the  barbarous  and 
cruel  instincts  of  which  the  South  Sea  Islander  is 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  211 

capable.  The  peoples  of  the  coral  islands  are  of 
the  same  g-eneral  character  as  the  inhabitants  of  the 
adjacent  high  islands,  and,  as  a  rule,  have  the  same 
language.  They  are  of  the  brown  Polynesian  race, 
and  are  governed  for  the  most  part  by  chiefs  whose 
authority  is  hereditar}\  Spirits  of  ancestors  are 
worshipped  by  the  heathen,  who  are  \ery  super- 
stitious. They  have  no  idea  of  God  and  none  of 
sacrifice. 

The  eastern  Carolines,  beginning  with  Kusaie, 
and  including  Ponape,  have  been  most  influenced 
by  the  American  missionaries.  On  any  of  the 
islands  the  foreigner  is  safe.  There  are  churches 
and  schools,  and  the  people  are  hospitably  and 
kindly  inclined  toward  each  other  and  toward  the 
strangers  within  their  gates. 

Rumors  of  the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  high 
islands,  of  the  barrenness  and  desolation  of  the 
low  islands,  and  of  the  primitive  and  savage  char- 
acter of  their  inhabitants  had  been  brought  to 
civilized  countries  by  the  occasional  trading  and 
whaling  vessels  that  had  touched  at  them  and  had 
left  in  safety.  These  traders  carried  to  these 
islands  rum  and  tobacco,  and  they  left  behind 
them  a  train  of  sin  and  debauchery  and  unchecked 
crime;  yet  never  a  word  did  these  white  men 
breathe  of  a  better  or  a  civilized  life;  never  a  word 


212  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

of  the  Christ  who  died  for  all  mankind.  And 
these  men  were  to  the  wretched  natives  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  who  live  in  the  wonderful 
lands  across  the  seas. 

Alone,  uncared  for,  they  existed — for  we  can 
not  say  they  lived.  It  was  only  the  white  folk  who 
knew  that  these  islands  belonged  to  Spain,  that 
these  heathen  people  were  Spanish  subjects.  Por- 
tuguese seamen  discovered  the  islands  in  1527,  and 
they  were  annexed  nominally  by  Spain  in  1686, 
tho  practically  abandoned  by  her  until  1885. 
The  early  discoverers  saw  the  awful  degradation 
and  heathenism  of  the  inhabitants,  and  left  them 
to  themselves.  For  years  a  curtain  of  silence  hung 
heavily  between  them  and  the  outside  world,  to  be 
raised  not  by  the  Spanish  who  claimed  the  islands, 
but  by  Christian  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

In  1852  the  first  missionaries  were  sent  to  these 
Caroline  Islands  and  to  the  adjacent  Gilbert  and 
Marshall  groups  by  the  American  Board.  "After 
a  month  of  sea  and  sky,"  one  of  that  pioneer  band 
tells  us,  "we  reached  one  of  the  low  coral  islands. 
Nothing  to  be  seen  but  the  illimitable  sky  above, 
the  white  sand  glistening  in  the  burning  sun,  and 
most  trying  to  the  eyes.  The  natives  were  nearly 
naked,  sitting  and  lying  round  in  the  sun  or  in 
their  little  huts,   as  filthy  as  possible,   appearing 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  213 

more  like  apes  than  like  human  beings.  Both  men 
and  women  were  formerly  elaborately  tattooed, 
but  this  custom  is  rapidly  passing  away."  There 
was  no  marriage  rite,  but  the  pairing  of  men  and 
women  was  respected. 

It  seemed  as  tho  all  connection  of  these  mission- 
aries with  their  native  land  was  severed,  and 
almost  as  tho  they  were  no  longer  inhabitants  of 
the  same  world.  It  was  expected  that  the  Caroline 
— the  schooner  which  took  them  out — would  visit 
them  every  year,  taking  to  them  their  mail  and 
supplies,  and  they  looked  eagerly  forward  to  her 
arrival  to  break  the  pall  of  silence  which  enshrouded 
them.  She  returned  to  them  but  once;  then  the 
long  silence  began,  while  they  almost  counted  the 
hours  and  minutes  till  she  would  again  appear. 
But  Christians  in  America  were  dilatory  about 
their  Master's  business — we  dare  not  say  that  they 
were  unjust  stew^ards  of  their  Lord's  bounty. 
Word  came  by  a  trading  vessel  that  Christians 
in  America  could  not  continue  giving  as  they  had 
begun.  Retrenchment  was  thought  necessary,  and 
the  Caroline  was  sold. 

The  lonely  workers  in  the  islands  of  the  sea  were 
stranded.  If  ships  were  sailing  to  those  seas,  then 
mail  and  supplies  would  be  sent  them.  If  such 
trading  or  whaling  vessels  did  not  go,  or  did  not 


214  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

care  to  favor  the  missionaries  who  were  spoiling 
their  trade  in  rum  and  tobacco — ah!  well,  that 
contingency  was  not  in  the  calculation. 

There  they  were,  five  thousand  miles  of  water 
between  them  and  the  home-land,  shut  out  from 
everything  that  pertains  to  civilization,  shut  in  to 
heathen  more  or  less  hostile  to  them.  If  soldiers 
fighting  for  the  Union  were  without  food  and  cloth- 
ing, the  whole  nation  would  be  aroused,  people 
without  the  love  of  Christ  in  their  hearts  would 
spare  neither  time  nor  money  in  their  relief.  But 
these  were  soldiers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
therein  lies  the  difference.  For  four  years  they  had 
no  regular  communication  with  the  outside  world. 
Then  the  children  came  to  the  rescue,  and  in  1857 
the  first  Morning  Star  was  built. 

Like  figures  in  a  fairy  tale,  who  wake  to  action 
at  stated  intervals,  and  then  fall  back  to  sleep  again, 
so  life  seemed  to  pass  on  Ponape.  Months  of  quiet 
found  their  climax  in  days  of  intensity,  when  friends 
and  all  the  world  drew  near  at  once;  then  the  silence 
of  utter  separation  shut  them  in  again — the  silence 
that  seemed  eternal  in  an  eternal  night. 

From  the  early  days  of  missionary  work,  through 
thirty-five  long  busy,  fruitful  years,  the  history  of 
Ponape  ran  along  in  uneventful  channels,  as  at 
Kusaie  and  in  other  parts  of  Micronesia.     The 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  215 

missionaries  had  much  the  same  experience,  the 
same  dark  heathenism  with  which  to  contend,  the 
same  weariness  and  loneHness  and  heartache  oft- 
times;  but  under  all  and  through  all  was  the  joy 
of  seeing  souls  won  to  Christ,  and  of  minister- 
ing to  these  needy  islanders.  They  found  them 
scantily-clad  savages,  with  no  home  life  or  home 
instinct.  Today  there  are  thousands  of  them  in 
Christian  homes,  happy  in  the  knowledge  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  their  Saviour,  and  living  in  simple-hearted 
allegiance  to  Him. 

For  years  the  missionaries  labored.  The  domi- 
nant influence  in  Kusaie  is  Christianity;  the  people 
are  so  gentle,  it  seems  incredible  they  should  ever 
have  been  fierce  and  cruel;  yet  it  is  not  many 
vears  since  they,  too,  murdered  a  ship's  crew  for 
the  sake  of  plunder.  At  Ponape  the  same  good 
work  was  going  on,  and  the  Christian  natives 
w^re  sending  some  of  their  number,  at  the  risk  of 
their  lives,  to  take  the  Gospel  to  the  adjacent 
coral  islands.  Work  was  begun  among  the  fifteen 
thousand  people  of  the  Ruk  lagoon,  and  the  matter 
of  extendins  the  work  to  the  western  Carolines 
was  being  seriously  considered,  when,  for  some 
reason  beyond  the  ken  of  rational  thought,  Ger- 
many suddenly  fell  upon  the  Marshall  and  Caroline 
Islands,  laying  claim  to  both  groups.    At  this  Spain 


2i6  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

suddenly  awoke  to  the  fact  that  the  islands  were 
hers  by  virtue  of  discover}',  tho  for  long  years 
they  had  been  forgotten,  and  these  Spanish  sub- 
jects left  to  follow  the  dictates  of  their  wild  and 
lawless  natures. 

Through  the  arbitration  of  the  pope,  the  Mar- 
shall Islands  were  given  to  Germany  and  the 
Carolines  yielded  to  Spain,  and  she  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  take  possession.  The  result  is  well 
known  to  all  the  civilized  world.  About  a  month 
after  the  arrival  of  the  first  governor,  with  his 
soldiers  and  priests,  at  Ponape,  he  announced 
his  object  in  coming  to  be  "to  make  for  the  hap- 
piness and  well-being  of  the  natives,"  and  affirm- 
ing that  "no  one  will  be  troubled  by  his  beliefs 
in  the  truths  of  religion."  In  less  than  four  months 
from  the  date  of  this  proclamation,  but  two  schools 
remained  of  the  nine  on  the  island.  At  this  time 
a  member  of  the  mission  wrote: 

"  Never  was  the  island  in  so  good  a  condition 
as  when  the  Spanish  came.  The  work  never 
prospered  so  well  as  during  the  past  year.  Now 
the  wreck  that  has  been  made  in  these  three  months 
seems  almost  incredible.  Schools  closed,  church 
services  discontinued,  natives  encouraged  to  manu- 
facture intoxicating  drinks,  and  we  live  in  hourly 
expectation  of  orders  to  close  the  boarding-school." 


FOUR   "OLD   TIMKRS"   IN   MICRON  KSTA. 


SOMK   "NKW     riMI-.kb"    IN    MU  KuNh>i.\. 


A   HOUSE   AT  JEREMIAH'S   PLACE,   MICRONESIA. 


INTERIOR   OF  A  CHURCH   IN    MICRONESIA. 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  217 

The  next  three  years  were  given  over  to  des- 
potism on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards,  rebellions 
among  the  people,  and  vain  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  missionaries  to  make  peace.  At  last  the  end 
came,  and  in  the  summer  of  1890  the  mission 
buildings  were  destroyed,  the  church  was  burned 
to  the  ground,  and  the  missionaries  forbidden  to 
carry  on  their  work.  After  that  there  were  no 
missionaries  on  Ponape  until  the  Carolines  were 
again  ceded  to  Germany,  in  1900.  The  work  was 
continued  by  a  few  faithful  natives,  and  now 
the  station  has  again  been  established. 

Can  anything  be  more  pathetic  than  the  instance 
of  the  once  heathen,  but  now  Christian,  chief, 
sitting  down  amid  the  ashes  of  what  had  been  the 
mission  church,  and  weeping  over  the  desolation 
around  him  .?  "As  I  was  sitting  there,"  he  wrote 
a  missionary,  "  some  of  the  people  who  were 
wandering  around  saw  me,  and  came  where  I 
was.  Soon  quite  a  number  were  gathered,  and 
we  thought  we  would  have  a  prayer-meeting. 
We  sang  and  prayed,  but  soon  every  one  was 
crying.  We  tried  to  sing  again,  but  they  cried 
harder  and  harder,  and  one  by  one  they  got  up 
and  went  sorrowfully  away." 

For  several  years  the  Morning  Star  was  not  al- 
lowed to  touch  at  the  island,  tho  hardly  a  year 


2i8  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

passed  without  an  attempt  being  made.  Again 
and  again  the  missionaries  asked  permission 
from  Spain  to  return  to  Ponape,  but  they  were 
steadily  refused.  Again  and  again  they  asked  to 
be  allowed  to  send  Bibles  and  other  books  to  the 
natives,  but  this  privilege  also  was  denied. 

During  this  period  of  suppression  Henry  Nane- 
pei,  a  Christian  chief  of  Ponape,  wrote: 

"I  am  sorry  to  say  that  those  Spanish  priests 
are  getting  their  backs  up,  and  there  is  every 
probability  of  their  trying  to  make  trouble.  The 
governor,  too,  seems  to  side  with  them  in  every- 
thing they  say  and  do.  It  seems  very  singular 
that  we  can  not  be  permitted  to  carry  on  our 
Christian  work  without  being  harassed  by  these 
Catholic  priests.  However,  we  are  determined 
not  to  be  enticed  or  intimidated  by  anything  they 
can  say  or  do.  We  beg  you  to  pray  for  us,  that 
we  may  be  saved  from  the  arbitrary  and  despotic 
power  of  our  enemies." 

This  young  chief's  prayer  was  answered  by  the 
war  of  America  with  this  "arbitrary  and  despotic 
power"  of  Spain  during  which  Admiral  Dewey 
captured  the  Callio,  the  Spanish  gunboat  plying 
between  Ponape  and  Manila.  Since  then  the 
islands  have  become  German  territory  and  while 
many  of  the  German  officials  have  opposed  and 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  219 

hindered  missionary  work,  the  Gospel  is  again 
proclaimed  throughout  the  principal  islands  of 
the  group. 

In  the  neighboring  Gilbert  group,  belonging  to 
England,  and  in  the  Marshall  group,  belonging 
to  Germany,  the  missionaries  are  allowed  to  work 
on  without  molestation,  and,  on  the  whole,  both 
these  protectorates  will  ultimately  prove  for  the 
good  of  the  people,  and  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  Christ,  provided,  always,  that  these 
nations  are  represented  by  the  right  sort  of  men. 

In  the  Caroline  group  many  of  the  people  are 
still  waiting  for  the  Gospel,  and  missionaries  are 
endeavoring  to  take  it  to  them.  Of  course,  there 
is  no  great  future  before  these  islands,  as  is  before 
China  and  the  great  nations  of  the  earth,  but 
there  are  thousands  of  souls  going  down  in  eternal 
darkness,  and  it  is  our  privilege  and  duty  to  bring 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  to  all.  It  is  wonderful 
what  the  Gospel  does  for  them.  In  their  heathen 
state  they  have  few  wants;  nature  is  bountiful  and 
they  gather  the  breadfruit  and  coconuts,  eat, 
sleep,  and  have  a  good  time,  according  to  their 
ideas.  When  they  become  Christians,  they  want 
clothing,  and  there  is  only  one  way  to  get  it,  that 
is,  to  go  to  work.  The  coconuts  must  be  gathered 
and   dried   to   sell   to  the   traders.     The  teachers 


220  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

encourage  them  to  plant  taro,  bananas,  and  other 
foods,  and  thus  much  work  is  done.  They  buy  all 
their  books,  and  these  must  be  paid  for;  so  little 
by  little  they  learn  to  work,  and  there  is  nothing 
like  work  to  keep  a  man  or  woman  out  of  sin. 

Look  at  the  little  island  of  Pingelap.  Tw^enty 
years  ago  the  inhabitants  were  naked  savages. 
Today  they  are  a  crowd  of  well-dressed  people. 
They  have  planted  their  island  with  coconuts  till 
it  looks  almost  like  a  huge  coconut  tree.  The 
women  have  learned  to  braid  hats,which  they  sell 
to  the  traders,  so  that  almost  every  family  has  a 
hand-sewing  machine.  Almost  every  one  on  the 
island  can  read  and  write,  and  all  are  nominal 
Christians.  There  is  much  to  wish  for  yet,  for 
no  white  teacher  has  ever  lived  among  them,  but 
the  change  that  has  been  wrought  is  simply  wonder- 
ful. What  has  been  done  on  Pingelap  can  be  done 
everywhere. 

In  Ruk  lagoon  are  several  islands  which  a  few 
years  ago  had  never  heard  a  prayer,  and  the  name 
of  Jesus  had  never  been  spoken  on  them.  One 
year  just  before  Christmas  they  sent  for  Mr. 
Price  to  come  and  bring  them  the  Gospel.  He 
went  and  a  crowd  of  naked  savages  greeted  him 
on  the  shore.  They  were  kind  and  attentive,  and 
he  left  a  teacher  with  them.     He  went  over  again 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  221 

two  months  later,  and  large  numbers  had  put  off 
their  heathenism  and  had  put  on  clothing.  He 
went  again,  only  five  months  from  the  landing 
of  the  teacher,  and  the  whole  island  had  renounced 
heathenism  and  become  nominally  Christian. 
They  were  trying  to  the  best  of  their  light  to  live 
clean,  pure  lives,  and  no  doubt  many  of  them  will 
rise  in  the  judgment  and  condemn  some  who 
live  in  Christian  America.  Christianity  changes 
their  hearts  as  well  as  the  outward  life.  What  is 
it  that  has  made  the  islands  of  Hawaii  what  they 
are  ?  The  Gospel  of  Christ,  carried  by  the  faithful 
missionaries  of  the  American  Board.  The  Philip- 
pines, after  the  hundreds  of  years  of  Spanish  rule, 
were  as  low  and  vile  as  ever.  It  is  the  pure  Gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  that  lifts  up,  elevates,  makes  men; 
and  it  will  do  it  wherever  it  goes.  There  are 
grand  possibilities  for  Christian  manhood  and 
womanhood  in  those  far-away  isles. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Baldwin,  a  missionary  on  Ruk, 
gives  an  interesting  report  of  a  tour  in  the  Mort- 
lock  Islands: 

Namaluk  was  made  our  first  stopping-place. 
It  was  a  sad  story  there,  for  almost  all  of  the 
professed  Christians  had  gone  back  to  the  painting 
of  their  bodies  and  the  heathen  dance,  in  the  hope 
of  attaining  favor  with  the  German  government, 


222  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

and  only  a  very  small  company  were  able  to  sit 
down  with  us  at  our  Lord's  table.  Those  who  had 
yielded  to  the  temptation  to  deny  their  Lord  were 
very  desirous  of  still  being  counted  Christians  and 
of  partaking  with  us  the  emblems  of  His  broken 
body  and  shed  blood;  but  we  were  all  of  one  mind 
in  telling  them  that  this  could  not  be  allowed  until 
there  was  evidence  of  repentance  and  the  putting 
away  of  former  things  that  they  might  be  the  true 
children  of  God. 

On  October  13  we  anchored  off  Satoan.  Pilli, 
the  teacher  there,  was  accused  of  having  fallen 
into  sin,  and  had  gone  to  his  home  at  Lukunor. 
So  far  as  we  could  learn,  the  people  had  not  re- 
lapsed into  heathenism,  as  at  Namaluk,  and  but 
three  church  members  were  disciplined.  Shortly 
after  dinner  the  following  day  the  vessel  anchored 
at  Kutu,  and  a  large  number  of  people  gathered 
to  greet  us.  We  were  delighted  to  find  the  work 
here  in  so  good  condition.  The  other  islanders  had 
urged  these  people  to  join  them  in  returning  to 
the  old  ways,  but  they  had  replied  that  they  would 
"  stand  by  the  Book."  At  the  communion  service 
the  next  morning  thirteen  children  were  baptized, 
a  new  deacon  was  elected  and  set  apart  to  fill  the 
place  of  the  one  who  had  died  during  the  year, 
and  seven  were  received  into  church-membership. 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  223 

Of  the  seventy-nine  children  baptized  at  this  sta- 
tion last  year,  only  one  had  died,  and  the  Chris- 
tians had  been,  as  a  rule,  faithful. 

Pilli,  the  teacher,  came  on  board  the  vessel  at 
Kutu  so  that  we  returned  to  Satoan  with  him. 
The  woman  who  accused  him  was  called,  and 
before  the  chief,  deacons,  and  ourselves  told  her 
story,  which  we  all  believed  to  be  true,  altho  Pilli 
denied  it.  The  people  were  very  desirous  of  hav- 
ing a  teacher  with  them,  so  Amon  and  his  wife 
Alis  were  brought  from  the  ship  and  presented  to 
them  at  a  public  service. 

Lukunor  was  reached  at  noon  on  the  following 
day,  and  we  had  a  very  cordial  reception.  We 
had  heard  some  very  unfavorable  reports  of  the 
teacher  and  the  work  here,  but  almost  all  of  these 
were  denied  in  our  presence,  and  for  lack  of 
sufficient  proof  to  the  contrary  we  accepted  their 
word.  A  similar  experience  awaited  us  at  Oniop, 
the  other  station  in  the  Lukunor  lagoon;  a  very 
fair  face  was  made  before  us,  and  few  church 
members  were  disciplined  at  either  place.  Some 
days  later  we  learned  that  these  two  teachers  had 
deliberately  planned  to  deceive  us  and  escape  the 
discipline  exercised  at  the  stations  first  visited. 
They  called  the  people  together  and  made  them 
promise  nor  to  reveal  the  true  state  of  things,  and 


224         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

to  deny  all  charges  brought  against  them.  The 
chiefs  at  Lukunor  had  urged  that  the  truth  be  told, 
but  the  others  prevailed.  A  letter  was  sent  back 
to  these  teachers,  reproving  them  for  leading  their 
people  into  sin,  urging  them  to  full  repentance 
and  confession  of  their  guilt,  and  v^arning  them 
to  beware  lest  while  teaching  others  they  them- 
selves be  cast  away. 

On  Pis  we  were  glad  to  find  that  Ezra  and 
Beulah,  the  young  teacher  and  his  wife  who  were 
left  in  charge  of  this  station,  had  been  faithful  in 
their  work,  and  the  people  had  not  relapsed  into 
heathenism,  as  at  other  places.  Fourteen  were 
received  into  church-membership.  At  Losap  also 
the  work  was  in  very  good  condition,  considering 
the  fact  that  they  were  left  without  a  teacher 
shortly  after  our  visit  last  year,  and  the  services 
had  been  kept  up  by  one  or  two  of  the  Christian 
young  men  of  the  place.  Three  men  here  united 
with  the  Church. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  Nama,  the  last  station 
visited  ?  Formerly  one  of  the  most  promising, 
it  is  now  almost  utterly  given  over  to  spirit  worship 
and  the  deeds  of  darkness  that  accompany  it. 
Even  Allik,  the  teacher,  who  was  faithful  for  so 
many  years,  has  yielded  to  temptation,  and  not 
onlv  left  his  people  without  reproof  for  their  sin, 


THE  CAROLINE  ISLANDS  223 

but  entered  with  them  into  it.  His  wife  has  become 
since  our  visit  last  year  a  raving  lunatic,  or  a 
demoniac,  and  it  seemed  to  us  that  the  latter 
statement  most  clearly  fits  her  case.  One  deacon, 
who  had  been  faithful,  met  us  as  we  landed  and 
greeted  us.  He  was  soon  followed  by  Charlie 
and  Maria,  formerly  teachers  at  one  of  the  stations 
at  Ruk,  who  had  also  stood  firm  in  the  terrible 
tide  of  temptation  which  has  swept  over  these 
islands.  While  service  was  being  held  in  the 
church  the  mutterings  of  the  people  engaged  in 
spirit  worship  in  houses  near  by  could  be  heard. 
Yet  even  here  there  was  a  little  company  who 
could  sit  down  with  us  to  celebrate  our  Saviour's 
dying  love  in  giving  Himself  for  us.  The  teacher, 
AUik,  was  dismissed,  and  the  church  left  in  the 
care  of  the  deacons  and  the  Christians,  as  we 
had  no  suitable  teacher  with  us  for  that  station. 

We  hope  that  these  reports  may  in  no  way 
lead  to  discouragement,  but  rather  to  more  earnest 
and  prevailing  prayer.  One  needs  to  have  lived 
among  these  people  to  understand  how  great  the 
temptation  has  been  to  return  to  those  former 
heathenish  practises  which  unprincipled  men  have 
taught  them  to  believe  would  give  them  favor  in 
the  eyes  of  "  the  powers  that  be." 


Chapter  XII 
LIGHTS  AND  SHADOWS  IN    GUAM 

BY 

Rev.   Francis  M.   Price 

Missionary  of  the  American  Board    of 

G^mmissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 


Chapter   XII 
LIGHTS  AND  SHADOWS  IN  GUAM 

^  I  ^HE  beautiful  island  of  Guam,  the  largest 
of  the  Ladrone  group,  has  a  population  of 
about  ten  thousand,  of  which  Agana,  the  cap- 
ital, has  seven  thousand.  There  are  two  distinct 
classes:  those  of  Spanish  blood  (the  so-called  high- 
class  Chamoros),  and  the  common  people.  The 
first  class  furnishes  the  civil  officers  of  the  govern- 
ment and  possesses  most  of  the  wealth  and  intel- 
ligence, tho  a  large  proportion  of  the  poorer  class 
have  their  own  homes  in  Agana  and  little  farms 
in  the  hills.  The  blood  of  many  nationalities  flows 
in  their  veins,  but  the  Malayan  undoubtedly  pre- 
dominates and  gives  its  character  to  the  people. 
Their  faces  show  them  to  be  a  weak  race, 
and  while  many  are  pretty,  few  are  fine  looking. 
Some  of  the  children  are  very  attractive  with 
their  soft  black  eyes  and  olive  comple.xions,  but 
one  seldom  sees  a  beautiful  old  man  or  woman. 
The  iron  of  the  pure  Gospel  of  Christ  must  be 
infused  into  their  blood  to  impart  strength  to  their 

229 


230         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

characters    and    nobility    to    their    countenances. 

The  language  spoken  in  Guam  is  more  highly 
inflected  than  those  of  other  Micronesian  islands. 
The  Spanish  language  is  used  to  some  extent, 
and  probably  one-tenth  of  the  people  know  enough 
Spanish  for  business  purposes  and  one-tenth  of 
these  understand  it  reasonably  well.  The  vast 
majority  of  the  people  speak  only  the  Chamoro, 
understanding  very  few  words  of  Spanish  or  Eng- 
lish. At  present  every  one  wants  to  learn  English, 
and  this  tongue  will  doubtless  supplant  all  others 
in  the  course  of  time. 

The  homes  of  the  people  are  superior  in  many 
respects  to  those  of  other  Micronesians,  but  inferior 
to  those  of  the  very  poor  in  America.  The  small 
thatch-covered  houses  are  set  on  posts  three  or 
four  feet  high,  which  have  wooden  (often  bamboo) 
sides  and  floors,  and  consist  of  two  or  three  rooms. 
The  better  class  have  stone  houses,  covered  with 
tile  or  corrugated  iron;  many  of  them  are  neat 
and  homelike,  but  are  generally  destitute  of  fur- 
niture, and  suggest  anything  but  comfort.  Chairs 
are  unknown  and,  a  mat  spread  on  the  floor  at 
night  serves  for  a  bed.  The  women  do  the  cooking 
on  mud  ranges;  they  chop  their  own  wood,  even 
going  to  the  hillsides  to  cut  and  carry  home  bundles 
of  sticks  on  their  heads  or  shoulders.     Rice  and 


GUAM  231 

corn  constitute  the  staple  food,  with  vegetables,  fish 
and  meat  for  variety. 

The  Chamoros  are  inveterate  smokers  ;  men, 
women,  and  children  smoke  pipes  or,  if  they  can 
afford  it,  immense  cigars  made  from  the  native 
plant  which,  judging  from  the  odor,  can  scarcely 
rival  the  Havana.  Many  of  them  chew  the  nut  of 
the  areca  palm,  the  betel-nut,  which  is  slightly 
intoxicating,  and  whose  juice,  mixed  with  lime 
imparts  a  reddish  color  to  the  lips,  and  is  supposed 
to  add  much  to  their  beauty. 

The  clothing  of  the  people  of  Guam  is  simple, 
and  adapted  to  the  climate.  For  men  it  consists  of 
white  cotton  trousers  and  a  blouse  worn  outside 
(very  neat  when  clean),  and  for  the  women  a  cotton 
chemise,  a  trailing  skirt,  usually  of  calico,  and  a 
white,  thin  camise,  or  overwaist,  with  low  neck  and 
large  flowing  sleeves.  When  the  women  go  on  the 
streets  in  full  dress  they  usually  wear  a  cotton 
kerchief,  folded  diagonally,  over  the  shoulders,  with 
the  ends  crossed  and  pinned  over  the  breast  and 
another  thrown  loosely  over  the  head.  The  well- 
to-do  wear  clothing  of  richer  quality.  It  is  hard 
for  the  children  to  get  used  to  the  superfluous 
custom  of  wearing  clothes,  and  they  throw  them 
off  and  run  about  naked,  in  defiance  of  law,  at 
every  opportunity.     One  little  fellow  was  caught 


232         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

by  an  officer  and  locked  up  over  night  for  ventur- 
ing too  far  from  home  undressed. 

The  Chamoros  are  a  peaceable  people,  not 
given  to  deeds  of  violence,  quarreling  little  among 
themselves,  and  living,  for  the  most  part,  in  separate 
families.  They  are  kind  and  generous,  given  to 
hospitality,  and  quick  to  return  favors.  For  the 
most  part  they  are  tillers  of  the  soil,  but  very  fond 
of  municipal  life,  so  that  farmers  will  go  as  far  as  ten 
or  twelve  miles  to  till  their  land  and  return  to  their 
homes  in  town  rather  than  live  in  the  country. 
Late  Saturday  night  the  men  come  home,  spend 
Sunday  with  their  families,  and  are  off  for  their 
ranches  before  daylight  Monday  morning. 

Most  of  the  women  and  some  of  the  men  go  to 
mass  early  Sunday  morning;  the  remainder  of  the 
Sabbath  is  given  to  sports  and  trading  or  to  the 
doing  of  odd  jobs.  Gambling  is  a  passion  with 
them,  and  the  streets  of  Agana  swarm  on  Sundays 
and  feast-days  with  groups  of  men  and  boys  pitch- 
ing coppers  or  larger  coins.  The  natives  admit 
that  this  is  productive  of  great  evil,  since  it  deprives 
many  families  of  food,  and  leads  men  to  steal  in 
order  to  pay  gambling  debts;  but  there  is  no  public 
sentiment  against  it.  Cock-fighting  is  so  prevalent 
as  to  be  a  national  sport;  it  is  cruel  and  demoraliz- 
ing, restricted  but  not  prohibited  by  the  governor. 


MJ.ME    i'LA^A.Xli    IX    Tlli:.    I^LA.\D    Ui"    GUAM. 


WlIl.RK    TKi:    FIRST    I'ROTKSTAXT   SERNICF.S   WKRI-:   IIKLD    IN    GUAM. 


GUAM  233 

Drunkenness,  so  prevalent  formerly,  is  not  common 
here  now,  and  disorderly  men,  natives  or  marines, 
are  very  seldom  seen  on  the  streets.  The  liquor 
laws  are  practically  prohibitory,  especially  for  the 
natives,  and  no  one  can  get  foreign  drinks  Vv  ithout 
a  permit  from  the  governor.  This  permit  is  granted 
or  not  at  his  discretion,  after  the  applicant  has 
sworn  that  it  is  for  personal  use  only. 

Social  life  is,  as  a  rule,  very  unclean,  and  the 
sentiment  against  social  sins  is  abhorrently  low. 
Houses  of  ill-repute  abound.  One  who  was  in  a 
position  to  know  said :  "  Parents  even  in  the  best 
families  would  be  glad  to  give  their  daughters  in 
temporary  marriage  to  the  officers  of  the  navy  who 
are  married  men  for  the  time  of  their  sojourn 
here."  Such  a  thing  is  not,  of  course,  allowed  in 
our  navy.  The  thirst  for  white  blood  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  this,  but  the  sad  thing  is  that 
public  sentiment  tolerates  it.  There  are  two  rea- 
sons for  this.  The  large  fees  demanded  for  legal 
marriages,  during  the  Spanish  administration, 
compelled  many  to  live  in  unlawful  wedlock,  and 
thus  lawful  marriage  was  lightly  esteemed.  But 
much  more  than  this  the  immoral  lives  of  most  of 
the  Spanish  priests  and  officers  gave  a  religious 
sanction  to  vice.  Some  of  the  padres  had  children 
by  different  women  in  different  villages  and  pub- 


234  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

licly  recognized   them.     "They  told   us,"   said   a 
Chamoro,  "to  do  as  they  said  and  not  as  they  did." 

The  religious  history  of  the  island  is  interesting 
and  sadly  pathetic.  In  1668,  Mariana  of  Austria, 
Queen  Regent  of  Spain  and  widow  of  Philip  IV, 
contributed  25,000  pesos  from  the  public  treasury 
and  sent  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  to  evan- 
gelize the  Ladrones.  Diego  Luis  de  Sanvatores 
arrived  in  Guam  with  six  religiosos  in  1669,  and 
so  vigorously  did  they  prosecute  their  work  that, 
according  to  the  Spanish  historian,  "they  taught 
and  baptized  6000  persons  during  the  first  year." 
Padre  Diego  was  indefatigable  in  his  labors, 
scarcely  giving  himself  time  to  eat  or  sleep,  carrying 
his  message  into  all  parts,  instructing  and  baptiz- 
ing multitudes,  especially  little  children.  He  was 
slain  after  three  years  by  a  native  chief  for  baptiz- 
ing his  child  without  his  consent,  and  was  posthu- 
mously honored  with  the  title:  "The  Apostle  of 
the  Marianas."  His  associates  continued  the 
work  after  his  death,  and  in  the  course  of  time  all 
the  islanders  became  Roman  Catholics. 

Here  was  a  fine  opportunity  to  teach  the  Cham- 
oros  a  spiritual  religion,  the  pure  Gospel  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  had  they  done  so  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  the  island  would  have  honored 
the  Spanish  name;  but  they  chose  rather  to  modify 


GUAM  235 

the  message  and  adapt  it  to  the  low  state  of  intel- 
Hgence  of  the  people.  The  result  is  a  form  of 
heathenism  shorn  of  some  of  its  repulsive  features, 
but  still  ignorant,  false,  and  degrading.  Image 
and  picture  worship  was  now  well-nigh  universal. 
In  practically  every  house  there  is  a  shrine  with  an 
image  or  picture  of  Christ  and  Mar)'  and  some  of 
the  saints;  candles  are  lighted  before  them,  and 
prostrations  are  made  precisely  as  is  done  in 
heathen  lands.  In  a  little  pamphlet,  the  only  book 
)et  published  in  the  Chamoro  language,  instruc- 
tions are  given  for  a  prayer  to  be  recited  before  the 
image  of  a  former  priest  of  this  island.  Mary  is 
more  worshipped  than  Jesus,  and  in  one  of  their 
common  oaths — they  are  very  profane — they  use  the 
names  of  Jesus,  Joseph,  and  Mary  in  one  breath. 

Prayers  to  the  Virgin  Mary  and  other  saints, 
called  the  "Novena,"  are  chanted  by  the  women  and 
children  (men  seldom  taking  any  active  part)  for 
nine  successive  evenings  at  stated  times  in  given 
neighborhoods,  each  successive  evening  chanting 
being  at  a  different  house.  The  prayers  are  in 
Spanish,  and,  according  to  the  chanters'  own 
confessions,  are  not  understood  by  the  great  major- 
ity of  those  using  them.  Of  singing  and  prayer 
as  known  to  Christian  people  they  have  little  or 
no  conception. 


236  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

How  can  such  people  be  moral  ?  The  fact  is 
they  are  not  moral  in  any  strict  senseof  that  word. 
Necessarily  religion  is  divorced  from  morality; 
and  with  few  exceptions  the  natives  are  liars  and 
thieves,  low  in  their  social  ideas  and  practises,  in 
mortal  dread  of  ghosts  and  the  devil,  and  d&void 
of  any  of  the  comforts  and  restraints  of  a  personal 
religious  life. 

The  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  taught 
by  Him,  and  interpreted,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  by  an  intelligent  and  faithful 
study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  preached  by 
Spirit-filled  missionaries,  is  the  only  hope  for  these 
people;  for  that  alone  is  the  "power  of  God 
unto  salvation"  which  can  turn  them  from 
darkness  to  light,  purifying  and  elevating  social 
and  family  life,  and  creating  a  public  sentiment 
such  as  is  found  in  Christian  communities  all  over 
the  world.    Christ  alone  can  purify  the  heart. 

There  is  evidence  that  not  all  the  people  of 
Guam  have  been  satisfied  with  the  spiritual  food 
they  have  received;  they  have  been  hungry  for 
better  things.  Prior  to  1850,  Bibles  had  been 
brought  here,  nobody  knows  how,  possibly  by 
whaling  ships,  and  found  their  way  into  a  few 
families,  and  were  read  with  eagerness  by  the  more 
earnest  men.     People  long  deprived  of  the  Word 


GUAM  237 

of  God,  when  once  they  have  tasted  of  this  Bread 
of  Life,  hunger  for  more,  and  usually  are  eager  to 
have  their  friends  partake — like  other  good  things 
that  are  more  enjoyed  when  shared  with  others. 
The  reading  of  the  Bible  spread  among  the  people, 
and  finally  knowledge  of  this  reached  the  priest's 
ear;  then  priest  and  ruler  combined  to  stop  it. 
Diligent  search  was  made  for  the  Bibles,  and  three 
large  baskets  of  them  were  publicly  burned  in  the 
plaza  about  1856.  Some  successfully  hid  their 
Bibles  and  have  them  still. 

One  remarkable  man,  Jose  Taitano,  who  had 
been  reading  the  Book  of  books  for  many  years, 
was  long  ao-o  convinced  that  there  was  a  better 
way  than  that  he  had  learned  from  the  priests, 
but  he  was  perplexed.  The  government  and  the 
Church  were  against  him,  and  it  was  a  public 
misdemeanor  to  disobey  the  orders  of  the  priests. 
So  he  waited  and  did  nothing,  only  he  discarded 
the  grosser  superstitions,  such  as  the  vacating  of 
Carmelite  belts  and  other  charms  and  amulets, 
and  hoped  and  prayed  for  deliverance.  There 
may  have  been  others  like  him;  but  for  the  most 
part  the  people  had  yielded  to  the  inevitable,  and 
remained  subject  to  the  priest  and  ruler,  thinking 
there  was  no  eye  to  pity  and  no  arm  to  save. 

On  June  24, 1898,  the  Charleston  rook  possession 


238  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

of  Guam  for  the  United  States,  and  the  death-knell 
of  poHtical  oppression  and  religious  stultification 
was  sounded.  God's  eye  pitied  and  His  arm 
brought  salvation.  Two  natives  of  Guam  who 
had  lived  many  years  in  the  United  States  and 
Honolulu,  and  had  become  earnest  Christians, 
Joe  and  Luis  Castino,  when  they  heard  that 
deliverance  had  come  to  their  people,  were  moved 
to  return  to  their  native  island  and  tell  the  "old, 
old  story."  On  their  arrival  Mr.  Taitano  wel- 
comed them,  and  with  his  large  family  of  six  girls 
and  four  boys  openly  united  with  them.  The 
priest  threatened  them,  telling  them  that  they  were 
still  under  Spanish  law,  and  would  be  punished  as 
soon  as  the  Americans  left.  But  the  Americans 
did  not  leave,  and  opposition  only  made  these  men 
more  earnest.  A  daughter  of  Luis  Castino,  an 
earnest  Christian  of  strong  character,  who  had 
been  well  educated  in  the  Honolulu  schools, 
opened  a  school  for  teaching  English,  and  prose- 
cuted her  work  with  great  patience,  energy,  and 
success. 

On  "November  27,  1900,  the  first  American 
Protestant  missionaries  arrived  in  Guam,  and 
found  a  little  company  of  twelve  Christians. 

The  marines  also  attend  the  evening  services, 
and  the  number  of  the  Chamoros  is  increasing. 


GUAM  239 

A  young  people's  society,  embracing  in  its  mem- 
bership all  the  Protestant  Christians  on  the  island 
who  desire  to  identify  themselves  with  Christian 
work,  holds  a  meeting  every  Sunday  evening. 
Some  of  these  give  conclusive  evidence  that  they 
have  been  born  again. 

Soon  the  difficulty  was  to  find  a  room  large 
enough  for  the  mission  services.  The  only  room 
available  was  overcrowded — a  very  uncomfortable 
condition  in  this  warm  climate.  Many  stood  out 
on  the  street  and  listened  to  the  singing,  but  could 
not  be  invited  in  because  there  was  no  room. 
No  people,  even  in  the  untouched  islands  of  the 
Carolines,  ever  needed  the  Gospel  more  than 
these.  The  American  Board  is  now  seeking  to 
give  them  the  Gospel,  and  by  the  side  of  the  Amer- 
ican flag  to  plant  the  blood-stained  banner  of  the 
Son  of  God. 

One  of  the  great  difficulties  which  faces  Prot- 
estant Christian  effort  in  Guam  is  the  imperfect 
and  semi-Christian  work  of  the  Roman  Church. 
It  is  true  that  the  people  have  been  taught  for  many 
years  some  of  the  great  truths  of  Christianity;  but 
these  have  been  so  obscured  by  superstitious 
practises,  idolatrous  and  spectacular  processions, 
and  priestly  immorality  and  greed,  that  theyha\e 
not  only  largely  lost  their  influence  but  have  even 


240  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

become  vitiated  and  degrading.  The  soil  is  not 
virgin;  the  ground  has  been  burned  over.  A 
form  of  Christianity,  without  its  purity  and  power, 
holds  the  people  in  bondage,  and  closes  their 
hearts  and  minds  and  ears,  their  homes  and  villages, 
as  to  the  Gospel  message  and  messenger.  The 
remark  of  a  priest  in  the  city  of  Rome,  that  "Ro- 
man Catholicism  is  fast  becoming  a  religion  of 
Mary,"  is  only  too  true  in  Guam. 

The  superstitions  and  perversions  of  Spanish- 
Latin  Christianity  are  other  obstacles  to  the 
spread  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Several  years  ago 
some  one  found,  after  a  great  storm,  a  wooden  image 
of  the  Virgin  floating  in  the  bay.  It  is  said  that 
an  island  priest  threw  it  in  during  the  storm,  and 
afterward  drew  it  out  and  announced  that  it  had 
fallen  down  from  heaven.  It  was  carried  to  the 
church  with  demonstrations  of  joy,  publicly  placed 
among  other  images  there,  and  a  feast  ordered  in 
its  honor.  Afterward  this  feast  was  celebrated 
annually  to  prevent  earthquakes,  and  called  the 
"Earthquake  Feast."  Many  knew  of  this  decep- 
tion but  acquiesced  in  it  as  justifiable.  Later  this 
image  was  sent  to  Manila  to  be  retouched,  and 
received  back  again  with  special  public  ceremonies 
attended  by  the  government  officials.  The  image 
was  set  up  in  its  old  place  in  the  church,  a  box  was 


If 


^&^. 


GUAM  241 

placed  at  its  feet,  and  large  sums  of  money  were 
cast  into  the  box  by  excited  worshippers.  In  the 
processions  of  Easter  and  other  feast-days,  when 
great  crowds  throng  the  streets,  marching  in  pro- 
cession, the  images  are  carried  at  the  head  of  the 
throng,  receiving  all  the  honors  of  the  occasion,  and 
ever}'  person  in  the  island  is  practically  compelled 
to  attend  and  march  in  their  processions.  For- 
merly these  processions  were  semi-religious  and 
semi-political;  now,  under  the  American  govern- 
ment, they  are  wholly  religious. 

The  active  opposition  of  the  Roman  priests 
is  a  serious  obstacle  to  Protestant  work.  For 
several  months  after  the  mission  was  started 
people  gathered  in  crowds  on  the  street  in  front 
of  the  chapel  to  listen  to  the  singing  and  bold  ones 
ventured  to  sit  on  the  steps  and  look  in  at  the  door. 
Going  out  from  the  service  the  missionary  could 
hear  the  people  saying  among  themselves:  "That's 
a  good  man,  he  is  a  kind  father  (padre).  ' 

These  things  came  to  the  priests'  ears,  and  a 
continuous  fusillade  began  against  the  Protestants. 
It  was  asserted  that  they  were  "beasts"  not  men, 
that  their  books  were  "pig  books"  (tratados  de 
puercos),  and  that  they  would  transform  the  people 
into  beasts  if  they  came  near  them.  Women 
were  warned  that  if  they  went  near  the  Protestant 


242         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

chapel  they  would  give  birth  to  pigs,  Catholics 
were  urged  to  tear  up  Bibles  that  had  been  given 
them,  for  "it  is  a  bad  book  for  you  to  read  because 
you  can  not  understand  it."  Every  possible  word 
of  admonition,  warning  and  threat  was  contin- 
uously dinned  in  their  ears,  at  almost  every  service 
held  in  the  church.  A  watch  was  also  set  on  our 
chapel  to  inform  the  priest  of  those  who  attended 
and,  not  being  able  to  trust  the  watch,  the  priest 
himself  hid  in  a  house  near  by  to  see  what  was 
going  on.  When  it  was  learned  that  a  man  had 
entered  our  chapel,  remonstrances  were  made 
and  members  of  his  family  were  enlisted  to  turn 
him  away;  and,  failing  of  these,  persecutions 
began. 

The  active  persecutions  are  another  hindrance. 
It  is  said  that  these  began  at  the  instigation  of 
the  priests.  This  may  not  be  true;  it  is  reason- 
ably certain,  however,  that  they  approved  of 
them.  At  first  the  persecutions  were  petty,  such 
as  social  ostracism — refusal  to  sell  meat  to  Prot- 
estants at  the  market,  and  so  forth.  These 
trials  were  borne  patiently.  Finally  after  the 
aovernor  had  issued  a  somewhat  ambiguous 
proclamation  which  they  understood  to  be  directed 
against  the  Protestants,  more  violent  persecution 
broke  out.     The  chapel   was   stoned,   attendants 


GUAM  243 

were  followed  and  assaulted  on  their  way  home,  and 
stones  were  cast  into  the  crowds.  Protestants  sit- 
ting at  home  with  their  families  found  large  stones 
dropping  through  the  thatch  roofs  in  their  midst. 

The  governor  saw  that  he  had  let  loose  the  pas- 
sions of  the  people  and  took  measures  to  quell 
the  disturbance.  The  American  community, 
Catholic  and  Protestant,  rose  almost  to  a  man 
against  it,  enraged  at  the  insult  to  Americans. 
Prominent  officers  were  in  the  church  when  it  was 
stoned,  and  some  of  the  marines  threatened  re- 
taliation. For  months  the  street  in  front  of  the 
chapel  was  patrolled  by  uniformed  police  during 
all  evening  services  until  the  danger  was  past. 
From  this  both  Catholics  and  Protestants  learned 
a  valuable  lesson — the  Catholics  that  they  were 
not  under  the  old  regime,  when  the  government 
was  hand  in  glove  with  the  priests  in  forcing  sub- 
mission to  their  mandates;  the  Protestants,  that 
they  would  be  protected  in  the  practises  of  their 
faith  so  long  as  they  were  peaceful  and  law- 
abiding. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  if  the  priestly 
domination,  through  the  fears  and  superstition 
of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  could  be  removed, 
inore  than  one-half  the  people  of  Guam  would 
quickly   become   Protestants;    but   as   it   is   there 


244         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

is  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  for  every  soul,  even 
after  it  desires  to  be  free,  and  slowly,  one  by  one, 
after  patient  instruction  and  much  prayer,  the 
Lord  adds  to  the  number  of  those  who  are  being 
saved. 

The  attitude  of  the  government  is  on  the  whole 
helpful  to  mission  work.  Perhaps  the  majority  of 
the  Americans  in  Guam  regard  the  missionary 
work  as  superfluous  and  unnecessary,  if  not  as  an 
actual  intrusion.  "The  people  have  their  own 
religion;  let  them  alone,"  is  the  opinion  of  those 
who  ignore  careful  moral  distinctions  and  condone 
sinful  practises.  But  the  government,  while  show- 
ing no  special  favors,  has  been  on  the  whole  fair, 
sympathetic  and  appreciative. 

Once  a  man  who  had  experienced  the  trans- 
forming power  of  Christ  in  his  own  life,  and  who 
was  as  earnest  and  consistent  a  Christian  as  I  have 
ever  known,  was  sick  and  ready  to  die,  and  w'as 
detained  against  his  will  by  relatives,  his  Protestant 
friends  being  refused  admission  to  his  house.  All 
honor  to  Governor  Schroeder  who,  when  apprised 
of  the  facts,  immediately  sent  an  officer  to  demand 
his  release,  saying  by  this  act:  "No  man  shall  be 
detained  against  his  will  nor  compelled  to  act 
contrary  to  his  desire  and  conscience  in  matters 
of  religion    under   this   government."    Thus   the 


GUAM  245 

American  flag  scored  one  for  liberty  in  the  island 
of  Guam. 

The  public  schools,  established  by  the  present 
governor,  are  indirectly  favorable  to  the  wor  , 
for  they  diffuse  knowledge  among  the  people 
and  destroy  the  hold  of  ignorance  and  super- 
stition. 

The  unusual  intelligence  of  many  of  the  people 
as  compared  with  most  Caroline  Islanders  is  an- 
other encouragement.  They  are  the  most  capable 
island  people  we  have  been  privileged  to  meet  and 
an  old  priest  has  written  of  them;  "They  are  su- 
perior physically  and  mentally  to  the  Filipinos." 

Credit  must  be  given  to  the  Roman  Church  for 
what  it  has  done  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  some 
of  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity;  for,  in 
spite  of  the  obscurations  and  perversions,  they 
have  prepared  the  people  for  better  things.  They 
have  enabled  them  to  understand  and  appreciate 
Christian  instruction. 

It  is  encouraging  to  work  for  such  people.  Once 
get  the  ear  and  you  can  soon  make  the  mind  and 
heart  to  understand,  and  there  is  often  a  very 
gratifying  response  to  the  truth  and  appreciation 
of  its  meanins:.  Protestantism  calls  out  the  best 
and  most  intelligent  people,  those  who  are  able  to 
read  the  Bible  and  to  think  about  its  truth.     On 


246         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

October  4,  1903,  a  church  of  thirty-one  members 
with  thirty  probationers  was  organized,  and  on 
November  i  of  the  same  year  was  celebrated  the 
first  communion  service  in  the  island  in  which  the 
cup  was  given  to  the  laity.  The  decorum,  solem- 
nity, and  evident  appreciation  of  the  meaning  and 
sacredness  of  the  sacrament  were  profoundly 
noticeable.  Of  these  members  two  are  teachers 
in  the  public  schools  and  six  are  in  the  government 
employ.  The  people  have  been  oppressed;  ig- 
norance and  superstition  have  been  fostered,  and 
all  progress  prohibited.  They  have  not  had  a 
fair  chance.  With  public  schools  and  other  free 
institutions  a  great  improvement  may  be  expected 
of  them. 

The  promise  of  native  evangelists  and  teachers 
greatly  brightens  the  outlook.  However  evangel- 
istic the  missionary  may  be,  he  must  depend  very 
largely  on  trained  natives,  whom  he  has  taught 
and  inspired  to  evangelize  his  field.  Imperfect  as 
some  of  them  are,  the  native  evangelists  are  neces- 
sary and  must  be  employed,  if  the  people  are  to  be 
instructed  in  large  numbers.  In  our  schools  there 
are  promising  boys  and  girls,  soon  to  be  young 
men  and  women,  well  instructed  and  strong  in  the 
faith,  who  will  command  respect  by  their  worth 
and  accomplishments,  and  be  able  to  meet  with 


GUAM  247 

sound  arguments  the  sophistries  of  the  priests. 
They  will  know  how  to  conduct  earnest  inquirers 
into  the  Way  of  Life  out  of  the  mazes  of  super- 
stitions, half-truths  and  subtle  errors  which  have 
so  long  kept  them  from  the  Light. 

Herein  lies  our  greatest  encouragement  and 
hope.  Wlien  we  can  send  forth  such  men,  filled 
with  the  love  of  Christ,  the  Roman  Church  will 
either  change  its  methods  and  become  more 
Scriptural  and  less  superstitious  or  multitudes  will 
break  away  from  it  and  seek  something  surer  and 
better.  For  the  present  semi-heathen  teaching 
and  practise  can  not  stand  before  the  enlighten- 
ment of  educated  natives  and  their  earnest,  loving 
preaching  of  the  simple  and  pure  Gospel  of  our 
Lord. 

A  very  noticeable  improvement  has  taken  place 
in  the  Roman  Church  since  the  arrival  of  Protestant 
missionaries  in  Guam.  More  instruction  is  given, 
and  superstitions  are  less  open  and  glaring; 
greater  stress  is  laid  on  the  necessity  of  a  moral 
life,  and  in  some  cases  discipline  for  immoral  con- 
duct has  been  exercised.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  the  Roman  Church  has  received  a  new 
impulse  and  is  becoming  more  educational  and 
less  superstitious.  The  removal  of  the  support  of 
the  government  has  been  most  salutary,  and  the 


248         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

friendliness  of  some  of  their  best  people  for  the 
Protestant  Church  and  the  changed  lives  and 
earnest  preaching  of  some  of  the  converts  have 
stirred  them  profoundly,  and  led  them  to  see  that 
they  must  do  more  for  their  people.  The  love 
which  our  people  have  for  the  Bible  and  their 
knowledge  of  its  teachings  have  affected  a  large 
number  of  people,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there 
will  never  be  another  bonfire  of  the  Blessed  Book 
in  the  Plaza  of  Agafia. 

We  lift  our  hearts  with  profound  gratitude  to 
the  Great  Head  of  the  Church,  for  the  hold  that 
His  truth  has  already  taken  upon  many  hearts; 
for  those  who  in  the  face  of  opposition  and  per- 
secutions have  steadfastly  set  their  faces  toward 
the  better  life;  for  a  goodly  number  who  have 
really  experienced  the  blessing  of  forgiveness 
through  Jesus,  and  whose  faces  are  lighted  up 
with  the  joy  of  the  redeemed  and  whose  lips  and 
lives  bear  testimony  to  the  power  of  Jesus  as  their 
Saviour.  The  sympathy  and  prayers  of  the  people 
in  America  should  be  given  to  this  little  church 
in  Guam.  It  is  now  a  small  company,  but  it  is 
the  little  leaven  in  the  meal  which  shall  leaven 
the  whole,  the  "  handful  of  corn  in  the  top  of  the 
mountain  whose  fruit  shall  shake  like  Lebanon." 


Chapter  XIII 

THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG,  PIONEER 

PREACHER  IN  NEW  GUINEA 

BY 

Rev.  Samuel  MacFarlane,  LL.D. 

Founder  of  the  New  Guinea  Mission;  Author  of 

"Among  the  Cannibals  of  New  Guinea,"  etc. 


Chapter  XIII 

THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG,  PIONEER  PREACHER 

IN  NEW  GUINEA 

/'^UCHENG  was  born  on  Uvea,  one  of  the 
^"^  Loyalty  Islands,  near  New  Caledonia,  about 
sixty  miles  to  the  northwest  of  Lifu.  The  home  of 
his  childhood  is  one  of  those  lovely  atolls  with  its 
circle  of  reefs  and  islets  forming  a  placid  lagoon 
about  fifty  miles  in  circumference.  Well  do  I 
remember  the  glorious  sailing  in  that  lagoon  with 
a  strong  breeze  and  smooth  water:  twelve  natives 
sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  boat,  laughing  and 
shouting  with  delight  as  they  saw  the  water  coming 
over  the  opposite  side  as  we  plowed  along  like  a 
steamer.  Then  the  natives  would  come  out  in 
their  best  sailing  canoes  to  meet  us,  and  the 
excitement  would  increase  as  we  raced  to  the  village. 
Gucheng  belonged  to  a  tribe  that  came  from 
New  Caledonia,  a  tribe  that  delighted  in  war  and 
cannibalism;  and  as  the  three  tribes  were  frequently 
quarreling  and  fighting,  he  became  familiar,  from 
his  childhood,  with  bloody  wars  and  cannibal 
feasts.     Even  in  times  of  peace  the  very  games  of 


252         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  boys  were  associated  with  war;  for  they  fought 
mimic  battles  on  the  beach  with  toy  spears  and 
clubs,  and  naval  engagements  in  the  lagoon  with 
toy  war-canoes. 

The  chiefs  and  leaders  of  these  warlike  Papuans 
are  frequently  men  who  have  forced  themselves 
to  the  front  by  their  size  and  strength,  and  bravery 
in  war;  the  tribes  are  proud  of  them,  and  willingly 
obey  them  in  peace  as  well  as  in  war.  But  it 
sometimes  happens  among  the  cannibals,  as 
among  more  civilized  tribes,  that  the  acknowl- 
edged leaders  become  tyrants  and  cruelly  oppress 
the  people.  The  cannibals  have  a  very  summary 
way  of  dealing  with  such ! 

About  the  time  of  which  I  write,  the  people  of 
the  western  half  of  Lifu  rose  against  their  chief, 
disposed  of  him,  and  elected  another  in  his  stead. 
The  leaders,  in  order  to  prevent  jealousies  and 
secure  unanimity,  wisely  determined  to  elect  an 
outsider,  and  the  choice  fell  upon  the  chief  of  the 
tribe  at  Uvea,  whose  forefathers  came  from  New 
Caledonia,  and  whose  right-hand  man  was  Gu- 
cheng's  father.  Ukenizo  accepted  the  offer  and 
became  the  great  chief  of  as  many  thousands  at 
Lifu  as  he  had  been  of  hundreds  at  Uvea.  Gu- 
cheng's  father  and  mother  accompanied  him  and 
settled  near  the  place  that  was  soon  to    become 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG         253 

my  home  tor  the  Hrst  half  of  my  missionary  life. 
Pao*  at  this  time  was  making  periodical  visits 
to  the  western  half  of  Lifu,  and  preaching  the 
gospel  of  peace  to  the  enemies  of  Bula.  Crowds 
listened  to  him,  and  many  followed  him  from 
village  to  village.  Among  the  latter  was  the  lad 
Gucheng.  His  young  heart  proved  good  soil  for 
the  seed  of  the  kingdom;  he  heard  with  evident 
delight  that  the  "Great  Spirit"  was  not  a  tyrant, 
but  a  God  of  love;  was  not  the  cause  of  sickness 
and  famine  and  death,  and  did  not  need  to  be 
appeased  by  sacrifices,  but  loved  all  men,  and 
wished  all  men  to  love  each  other  as  He  loved  them. 

This  was  a  revelation  to  the  cannibals  of  Lifu, 
and  Gucheng  received  it  as  a  message  from  heaven, 
and  showed  his  anxiety  to  learn  more  about  "la 
trenge  eweka  ka  loi"  (the  good  news). 

On  our  arrival  at  Lifu,  Gucheng  at  once  offered 
his  services  as  servant,  willing  to  do  anything  he 
could  if  he  might  live  with  the  missionary.  We 
found  him  not  only  willing  to  serve  but  quick  to 
learn.  Almost  from  the  day  that  Gucheng  entered 
our  family  till  the  day  of  his  death  in  the  Fly 
River,  New  Guinea,  he  was  my  right-hand  man, 
associated  with  me  in  nearly  every  enterprise  for 
the  progress  of  the  mission  at  Lifu  and  the  regions 

♦  See  page  31 


254         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

beyond,  also  in  the  difficult  and  dangerous  work  of 
establishing  mission  stations  in  New  Guinea.  As 
a  servant  in  our  family,  as  a  scholar  in  the  school, 
as  a  learner  in  the  workshop,  as  a  student  in  the 
institution,  as  a  native  pastor  at  Lifu,  and  as  a 
pioneer  evangelist  in  New  Guinea,  he  was  always 
diligent,   faithful,  devout,  thoroughly  trustworthy. 

Living  with  the  missionary,  he  became  a  great 
authority  among  the  people,  especially  at  the  in- 
land villages,  where  most  of  the  natives  were  still 
heathen.  Gucheng  generally  accompanied  me 
on  my  missionary  tours,  and  after  I  had  retired 
for  the  night  the  old  men  would  get  him  to  join 
them  at  the  log  fire  in  the  coconut  grove,  around 
which  they  would  sit  for  hours,  chewing  sugar-cane 
and  drinking  coconut  milk,  and  asking  all  sorts 
of  questions  about  the  religion  and  habits  and 
customs  of  the  white  people. 

On  one  occasion,  I  had  introduced  a  horse  from 
Samoa,  an  animal  that  the  natives  had  never  seen 
before,  and  which  some  of  them  thought  was  a  big 
dog.  One  of  the  old  men  questioned  Gucheng 
as  to  how  it  was  that  altho  he  had  been  feeding 
his  dog  for  six  months,  giving  it  as  much  as  it 
could  eat,  hoping  that  it  would  become  like  the 
missionary's  that  he  might  ride  it,  yet  it  did  not 
seem  to  get  much  bigger.     My  horse,  as  may  be 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        255 

supposed,  was  the  object  of  great  wonder  and 
admiration;  even  Gucheng  was  much  surprised 
and  bewildered  when  I  told  him  that  it  would 
have  to  wear  shoes,  and  the  making  and  putting 
on  of  these  excited  great  interest.  After  much 
difficulty  I  made  and  fastened  shoes  on  with  screws 
but  ultimately  received  from  Sydney  proper  shoes 
and  nails,  and  also  a  lesson  from  a  blacksmith  about 
horseshoeing,  so  that  Gucheng  was  very  soon  able 
both  to  shoe  and  ride  the  horse,  to  the  wonder  and 
delight  of  the  people. 

During  the  first  six  months  after  settling  at  Lifu 
I  made  a  tour  of  the  island  to  acquire  the  lan- 
guage, and  to  become  acquainted  with  the  villages. 
During  that  and  subsequent  journeys,  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  water  in  some  large  caverns 
near  the  middle  of  the  island,  tho  perfectly  fresh, 
rose  and  fell  with  the  tide.  It  appeared  from  this 
that  the  sea-water  percolates  through  the  rocks  of 
a  coral  island,  and  the  rain  that  falls  on  it  perco- 
lates downward  till  it  reaches  the  salt  water,  and, 
being  lighter,  does  not  readily  mix  with  it,  but  is 
raised  and  lowered  as  the  tide  flows  and  ebbs. 
I  felt  that  if  this  was  the  case,  we  might  dig  wells 
at  the  inland  villages,  and  everywhere  find  good 
water  about  sea-level.  This  would  be  a  great 
blessing    to    the    numerous   villages,    whose   only 


256         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

means  of  storing  rain-water  was  by  scooping  holes 
in  the  trunks  of  living  coconut  trees,  which  were 
filled  by  the  rain  running  down  the  stem.  Of 
course  such  water  was  scarce  and  impure. 

Without  making  any  attempt  to  explain  my 
theory  and  hopes  to  the  natives,  I  determined  to 
test  it  by  digging  a  well,  simply  informing  them 
that  I  hoped  to  find  water.  Having  made  a  wind- 
lass, we  commenced  operations  on  the  mission 
premises.  At  first  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting 
native  labor;  for  altho  the  natives  declared  most 
positively  that  there  was  no  chance  of  finding  water 
there,  still  they  were  willing  to  dig  some  distance 
to  prove  their  contention,  and  dissipate  this  papali 
(foreign)  idea  from  the  missionary's  mind.  The  mis- 
sion house  was  about  forty  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
so  that  I  knew  we  must  dig  the  well  that  depth 
before  there  was  any  reasonable  hope  of  finding 
water.  When,  however,  they  had  reached  a 
depth  of  about  twenty  feet,  they  threw  down  their 
tools  and  positively  refused  to  descend  the  well 
again.  It  seems  the  matter  had  been  publicly 
discussed,  and  the  whole  population  had  pro- 
nounced against  this  well-digging.  The  young 
people  in  our  school  were  about  this  time  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  mysteries  of  geography.  They 
told  their  parents  and  relatives  that  the  world  was 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHP:NG         257 

roundy  and  that  Peretania  (Britain)  was  on  the 
other  side,  immediately  underneath  Lifu.  This 
astounding  statement  would  have  been  scouted 
had  it  not  been  for  the  digging  of  this  well.  They 
had  as  yet  very  hazy  ideas  about  distances,  but 
it  was  enough  for  them  to  know  the  position  of  my 
country.  They  thought  they  saw  clearly  my 
object  in  digging  the  well.  To  look  for  water  at 
such  a  place  was  an  evidence  of  folly  that  could 
not  be  squared  with  their  exalted  ideas  of  the 
missionary;  but  to  make  a  hole  through  the  earth, 
and  be  let  down  and  hauled  up  by  a  windlass, 
was  an  idea  worthy  of  the  white  man! 

They  knew  something  of  the  dangers  of  short 
voyages,  but  what  must  a  voyage  to  Peretania  be! 
They  all  saw  clearly  that  the  well  was  to  be  a 
"short  cut"  to  visit  my  home.  Then  the  effects 
of  this  route  were  seriously  discussed.  The 
making  of  the  hole  through  the  earth  would  mean 
for  them  an  enormous  amount  of  labor,  and  they 
felt  that  if  I  had  such  an  easy  way  of  visiting  my 
home,  I  should  be  going  very  often;  and  then 
there  was  the  labor  of  lowering  me  down  and 
winding  me  up;  then  some  day  they  might  find 
the  bucket  empty,  I  having  decided  to  remain  at 
home.  Altogether  the  labor  and  risk  were  too  great, 
so  they  resolved  that  the  well  should  not  be  dug. 


258         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

I  had  to  fall  back  upon  my  faithful  henchman, 
Gucheng,  who  persuaded  three  friends  to  help 
him,  on  my  promising  not  to  go  below  the  sea-level. 
This  promise  secured  the  continuance  of  the  work, 
and  proved  a  great  relief  to  public  anxiety.  "  If,  '* 
said  the  natives,  "the  missionary  is  really  digging 
for  water,  and  has  promised  not  to  go  below  the 
sea-level,  then  the  work  will  soon  be  done,  and 
we  shall  hear  no  more  of  digging  holes  in  dry 
places  to  find  water." 

Week  after  week  the  work  went  on  merrily, 
very  merrily  indeed,  to  judge  by  the  laughing  and 
jokes,  when  their  friends,  and  strangers  from  a 
distance,  paid  a  visit  of  inspection. 

I  had  measured  carefully  the  distance  we  were 
above  the  sea-level,  and  kept  a  daily  record  of 
the  exact  depth  of  the  well,  so  that  I  knew  when 
to  expect  water,  if  we  were  to  be  successful.  I 
watched  my  chance  when  the  bottom  of  the  well 
was  near  the  sea-level,  and  when  half  a  dozen 
natives  were  standing  with  the  two  at  the  top, 
I  asked  them  if  they  had  not  yet  found  water. 
The  idea  was  evidently  amusing  to  them,  and  they 
seemed  particularly  anxious  to  impress  upon  my 
mind  that  they  were  not  seeking  water  at  such  a 
place.  "  The  eakune  ko,  ngo  nyipdi  pe  (Not 
we^  but  you).     "Well,"  I  said,  "I  will  go  down 


THE  STOR\   OF  GUCHENG        259 

myself  and  see  if  I  can  find  water."  One  wag 
hinted  that  this  might  have  been  done  from  the 
first  with  very  good  results.  However,  none  of 
them  supposed  that  I  really  intended  descending 
the  well,  but  I  insisted  upon  the  two  men  coming 
up.  I  did  not  trust  them  to  lower  me  down  stand- 
ing in  the  bucket,  as  they  generally  did,  but  slipped 
down  the  rope,  and  at  once  set  to  work  with  the 
crowbar  digging  out  a  small  hole  in  the  middle  of 
the  well,  looking  every  now  and  then  at  the  point  to 
see  if  it  was  wet. 

While  thus  engaged,  the  natives  at  the  top  were 
having  a  good  time,  somewhat  at  my  expense. 
Questions  were  shouted  down  the  well,  followed 
by  roars  of  laughter: 

*'  Haven't  you  found  water  yet .''" 

"We  are  dying  of  thirst!" 

"Take  care  you  don't  get  drowned!"  etc. 

After  a  time  I  began  to  be  quite  excited,  as  I 
thought  the  point  of  the  bar  was  wet.  Soon  there 
was  no  mistake;  it  was  wet;  there  was  water.  I 
shouted  to  the  natives  at  the  top  to  get  a  pannikin 
from  my  wife  and  send  it  down  in  the  bucket,  and 
I  would  send  them  up  some  water  from  the  well. 
They,  supposing  that  I  was  responding  to  their 
jokes,  3s!:ed  what  would  be  the  use  of  a  small 
pannikin   of  water   among   half  a   dozen   thirsty 


26o         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

people,  and  begged  me  to  send  up  a  bucketful. 
However,  as  I  insisted,  the  pannikin  was  obtained 
and  lowered.  By  this  time  the  water  had  perco- 
lated into  the  small  hole  I  dug  in  the  middle  of 
the  well,  enabling  me  to  get  half  a  pannikin  full, 
which  I  sent  to  the  top.  The  effect  was  instanta- 
neous and  comical.  Each  tasted  the  dirty  water 
and  pronounced  it  the  sweetest  and  best  on  the 
island.  As  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  brackish,  as  we 
were  too  near  the  sea  to  get  good  fresh  water. 
The  news  spread  through  the  village  like  wild- 
fire and  was  passed  from  village  to  village  with  as- 
tonishing rapidity.  The  report  was,  that  while 
their  countrymen  had  been  digging  for  months 
and  could  not  find  water,  the  missionary  had  gone 
down  the  well  and  found  it  in  less  than  half  an 
hour.  After  digging  down  as  far  as  we  could  at 
the  lowest  tide  we  had  always  an  abundant  supply, 
which,  being  only  slightly  brackish,  was  used  by 
the  natives  and  for  general  purposes  on  the  mis- 
sion premises. 

Gucheng  took  a  prominent  part,  not  only 
in  shoeing  the  first  horse  and  digging  the  first  well 
at  Lifu,  but  also  in  building  the  first  mission  house 
and  institution  building  and  students'  cottages, 
and  also  in  our  first  attempt  at  boat-building;  for 
we  built  a  boat,  which   Captain  Eraser,  of  the 


THt   CIlIKl'S    SPIKE    HOLSI-:    AT    KALO,    NKW    GUINEA. 


A  NATIVE  HOUSE  AT  VANUABADA,  NEW  GUINEA. 


'-a 


MISSIONARIES  AND  CHRISTIAN  STUDENTS  IN  NEW  GUINEA. 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        261 

Dayspritig,  declared  to  be  the  most  remarkable 
boat  he  had  ever  seen!  It  was  the  result  of  a  bad 
start  from  the  keel.  Having  beveled  one  side 
more  than  the  other,  we  found  that  one  side  of  the 
boat  was  a  different  shape  from  the  other!  How- 
ever, it  was  a  good,  strong,  serviceable  boat,  that 
carried  the  messengers  of  the  Gospel  to  many  a 
village  on  the  coast. 

By  the  time  Gucheng  had  finished  his  course 
of  study  in  our  institution  for  training  native 
pastors  and  pioneer  evangelists,  he  was,  unques- 
tionably, the  best-educated  native  on  the  island, 
so  I  determined  to  attempt  the  formation  of  a 
model  village  at  the  place  where  he  settled  as 
native  pastor.  The  people  of  Nachaum  were 
living  in  scattered  houses  and  small  hamlets,  like 
many  of  the  other  inland  tribes,  when  Gucheng 
became  their  teacher,  which  made  it  almost  im- 
possible to  get  the  children  together  in  school. 

I  took  the  opportunity,  at  the  induction  of 
Gucheng,  all  the  people  being  assembled,  to 
propose  my  plan,  which  met  with  unanimous 
approval.  A  site  was  selected  in  a  central  position, 
and  soon  a  broad  avenue  was  cleared  in  the  forest, 
the  fallen  timber  being  used  to  burn  coral  for 
lime  required  in  building  the  church  and  school. 
I  left  the  plan  with  Gucheng,  who  followed  it  to 


262         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the    letter;  he    was    the    trusted    leader    and    the 
hardest  worker.     Before  he  left  the  mission  settle- 
ment he  had  given  many  proofs  of  his  ability,  borh 
in    the    classroom    and    in    the   workshop,  so    the 
people  gladly  followed   his  lead.     As  the  village 
grew  in  the  wilderness  its  fame  spread  far  and 
wide,  and  brought  strangers  from  all  parts  of  the 
island  to  see  for  themselves,  and  carry  back  most 
exaggerated    reports   of  the   work.      The    natives 
vied  with  each  other  in  the  building  of  their  houses, 
which  were  all  detached,  with  a  garden  in  front 
and  plantation  behind.     At  length,  after  two  or 
three  years'  commendable  labor,  the  village  was 
completed,   and   a  great  gathering  took  place   at 
the  opening  of  the  coral  church,  which  was  indeed 
a  memorable  occasion.    The  natives  flocked  from 
all  parts,  bringing  their  best  clothes  under  their 
arms  to  dress  for  the  ceremony.     There  was  the 
usual    great   feast    prepared    for   the    strangers — 
quite  as  attractive  as  the  new  village,  no  doubt. 
It  was  a  glorious  sight,  filling  the  heart  with  grati- 
tude and  praise  to  God  who  had  so  richly  blessed 
the  means  to  bring  about  such  a  change  among  a 
people   so  recently  savages  and  cannibals.     The 
broad  road  leading  through  the  village  had  been 
leveled  and  planted  with  grass,  and  as  the  happy 
crowd    moved    about    admiring    the    church    and 


THE  STOR^'  OF  GUCHENG        263 

schoolhouse  and  the  newly  dug  well,  drinking  its 
deliciously  cold  and  fresh  water,  and  looking  into 
the  different  houses,  it  formed  a  beautiful  picture. 

The  time  had  now  arrived  to  commence  a  mis- 
sion on  the  great  island  of  New  Guinea.  The 
question  had  been  discussed  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  Loyalty  Islands  mission, 
and  the  directors  in  London  had  sanctioned  our 
proposal  and  appointed  me  to  carr}'  it  out.  So  I 
called  a  great  meeting  of  the  churches  of  Lifu, 
laid  the  scheme  before  them,  and  asked  for  volun- 
teers from  the  native  pastors  and  students  in  our 
seminar)-,  with  the  result  that  all  volunteered, 
requesting  me  to  select  from  their  number  those  I 
considered  most  suitable. 

As  the  best  men  were  needed  for  pioneer  work 
in  such  a  place,  Gucheng  was  the  first  native 
evangelist  appointed  to  the  New  Guinea  mission. 
He  had  married  the  daughter  of  a  chief,  who  for 
many  years  was  a  girl  in  my  w^ife's  school,  and 
developed  from  a  wild,  heathenish,  unkempt  girl 
into  a  fine  woman,  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally,  and  made  him  an  excellent  wife.  The 
sacrifices  which  Gucheng  and  his  wife  made  in 
leaving  their  comfortable  home  and  pretty  village 
and  devoted  people  for  the  risks  and  privations  of 
pioneer  work  among  the  cannibals  of  New  Guinea 


264         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

will  bear  comparison  with  those  made  by  Euro- 
pean missionaries.  Their  homes  are  as  dear  to 
them  as  ours  are  to  us,  yet  they  cheerfully  give  up 
all  for  the  sake  of  Christ  and  His  kingdom,  and 
place  themselves  unreservedly  at  the  disposal  of 
the  missionaries. 

In  beginning  a  great  mission  in  a  sickly  climate, 
among  a  savage  and  cannibal  people,  it  seemed 
imperative  to  form  a  central  station  at  a  place 
tolerably  healthy  and  safe,  which  might  become 
an  educational  center,  as  well  as  a  sanitarium  and 
"city  of  refuge"  for  the  whole  mission,  Darnley 
Island,  in  Torres  Straits,  appeared  to  be  the  kind 
of  place  we  needed.  It  is  about  seven  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  possessing  fertile  valleys  and 
plateaus,  groves  of  coconut  and  other  fruit-trees, 
good  anchorage  and  fresh  water,  and  is  situated 
between  Yule  Island,  on  the  New  Guinea  coast, 
to  the  east,  and  Thursday  Island,  in  Torres 
Straits,  on  the  west.  The  latter  is  a  calling-port  of 
mail  steamers  between  England  and  Australia, 
and  the  most  convenient  place  at  which  to  get 
letters  and  supplies  for  the  mission.  To  the  north 
lies  the  great  Fly  River,  which  can  be  reached  by  an 
eight-hour  sail  in  a  whale-boat,  and  then  ascended 
for  six  hundred  miles,  the  highway  into  the  interior 
of  that  great  country. 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        265 

Gucheng  and  Mataika,  another  Lifu  native, 
were  appointed  to  begin  the  work  at  Darnley; 
consequently,  they  were  specially  interested  as  we 
drew  near  our  first  landing-place  since  we  left 
Lifu  for  New  Guinea.  The  "sailing  instructions" 
informed  us  that  the  anchorage  was  in  "Treachery 
Bay,"  a  name  given  to  the  place  on  account  of 
a  boat's  crew  having  been  massacred  there,  and 
that  the  natives  were  very  \vild  and  treacherous, 
and  warned  all  visitors  to  be  on  their  guard;  so 
that  when  we  dropped  anchor  in  the  bay  without 
seeing  a  native  our  suspicions  were  aroused. 
There  was  no  one  to  introduce  us  to  this  people, 
and  none  of  us  knew  anything  of  their  language; 
but  acts  of  kindness  are  a  language  that  people  can 
understand  all  the  world  over,  and  that  was  the 
only  language  we  were  able  to  use  in  our  first 
touch  with  these  cannibal  tribes  in  different 
pomts  of  our  mission.  The  first  man  upon  whom 
we  tried  this  language  was  the  leading  warrior  of 
the  place,  who  is  now  the  senior  deacon  of  the 
church  there. 

Soon  after  we  cast  anchor  on  that  memorable 
Saturday  evening  this  warrior  made  his  appear- 
ance on  a  hill,  evidently  to  reconnoiter.  We 
beckoned  to  him,  and  then  jumped  into  our  boat 
and  met  him  on  the  beach.     That  meeting,  like 


266  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

many  others  of  our  first  meetings  with  the  can- 
nibals in  New  Guinea,  was  very  different  from  the 
pictures  in  books  and  magazines  of  the  mission- 
ary's first  landing  among  savages.  Instead  of 
standing  on  the  beach  in  a  suit  of  broadcloth 
with  Bible  in  hand,  the  pioneer  missionary  in 
New  Guinea  might  be  seen  on  the  beach  in  very 
little  and  very  light  clothing,  with  an  umbrella  in 
one  hand  and  a  small  bag  in  the  other,  containing 
not  Bibles  and  tracts,  but  beads,  jews'-harps, 
small  looking-glasses,  and  matches;  not  pointing 
to  heaven,  giving  the  impression  that  he  is  a  rain- 
maker, but  sitting  on  a  stone  with  his  shoes  and 
stockings  off,  surrounded  by  an  admiring  crowd, 
who  are  examining  his  white  feet,  and  rolling  up 
his  wet  trousers  (he  having  waded  on  shore  from 
the  boat),  to  see  if  he  has  a  white  leg,  and  then 
motioning  for  him  to  bare  his  breast,  that  they  may 
see  if  that  is  also  white.  The  opening  and  shutting 
of  an  umbrella,  the  striking  of  a  match,  the  ticking 
and  movement  of  a  watch — these  things  cause 
great  surprise  and  delight  and  loud  exclamations. 
When  we  met  this  savage  on  the  beach  at 
Darnley  we  first  induced  him  to  enter  our  boat 
and  accompany  us  to  the  vessel,  which  after  a  few 
friendly  demonstrations  we  succeeded  in  doing, 
tho   he   was   evidently    very   much    afraid.      We 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        267 

talked  to  him  on  board  in  a  manner  most  effectual. 
Not  knowing  the  way  to  his  heart  through  his  ear, 
we  took  the  familiar  road  through  his  stomach 
by  giving  him  a  good  dinner,  then  made  him  a  few 
small  presents  and  sent  him  away  rejoicing,  giving 
him  to  understand  by  signs  that  he  was  to  return 
next  morning  when  the  sun  was  up  and  bring  his 
friends  with  him. 

Long  before  sunrise  we  heard  unmistakable 
evidence  of  a  crowd  having  assembled  on  the 
beach,  all  anxious  to  get  on  board,  hoping,  no 
doubt,  to  be  treated  like  our  friend  the  night  before. 
After  our  morning  bath  on  deck,  during  which 
there  were  loud  exclamations  at  our  white  skins, 
we  sent  in  the  boats  to  bring  them  off  to  the  vessel. 
On  such  occasions,  in  our  first  contact  with  savages, 
we  take  the  precaution  to  fasten  a  rope  across  the 
after  part  of  the  vessel,  beyond  which  we  do  not 
allow  the  natives  to  go.  Two  or  three  of  the  crew 
are  stationed  in  the  bows  of  the  vessel,  the  mate 
and  one  of  his  men  stand  behind  the  rope  in  the 
after  part,  keeping  a  sharp  lookout  on  the  crowd. 
All  movable  articles  which  might  tempt  the  natives 
are  put  below  and  the  hatches  fastened.  Neglect 
or  contempt  of  these  precautions  has  often  led 
to  very  serious  and  fatal  consequences. 

Imagine   this  crowd   of  savages  on   board   our 


268         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

vessel,  naked,  and  ornamented  with  paint,  feath- 
ers, and  shells,  all  talking  at  once,  examining 
everything,  peering  into  every  place,  pressing 
against  the  rope  which  they  are  trying  to  remove 
or  surmount  in  order  to  get  to  the  cabin,  standing 
in  the  rigging  to  get  a  better  view,  some  of  them 
falling  or  being  pushed  overboard  amid  the  laugh- 
ter of  their  friends. 

What  were  we  to  do  with  such  a  congregation 
on  that  memorable  Sabbath  morning  ?  How  I 
longed  to  be  able  to  speak  to  them!  All  we  could 
hope  to  accomplish  was  to  make  a  favorable 
impression  upon  their  minds,  showing  by  our 
conduct  that  we  were  different  from  others  who 
visited  them.  To  this  end  I  conducted  our  morning 
service  in  the  Lifu  language.  The  crew  joined  our 
eight  teachers  and  their  wives,  who  all  appeared 
in  Sunday  attire.  Seven  nationalities  were  repre- 
sented, from  the  educated  European  to  the  debased 
savage.  Every  shade  of  color  might  be  seen,  both 
in  skin  and  dress,  from  white  to  black.  It  was  a 
strange  and  most  interesting  sight.  Never  before 
or  since  have  I  preached  to  such  an  audience.  We 
sang,  to  the  astonishment  and  delight  of  the 
natives,  "Jesus  shall  reign,"  etc.,  and  the  hills  sent 
back  the  response,  in  solemn  and  glorious  echo, 
"Jesus  shall   reign."     We  prayed     together  that 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        269 

God  would  direct,  protect,  and  bless  His  servants 
in  the  great  work  they  were  beginning,  for  never 
did  men  feel  more  than  we  did  then  their  abso- 
lute dependence  upon  divine  help.  The  savages 
looked  on  in  silence  and  wonder. 

After  the  service  we  mingled  with  them  freely, 
and  took  some  of  the  leading  men  into  the  cabin; 
then  made  them  a  few  presents,  and  sent  them 
awav  feehncr  that  whoever  we  were  we  differed 
from  those  who  had  hitherto  visited  them.  In  the 
afternoon  we  visited  the  village,  where  we  were 
kindly  received,  return  presents  being  made  by 
the  people.  Thus  our  intercourse  began,  and  in 
three  or  four  days  we  had  gained  their  confidence 
and  established  the  mission,  placing  Gucheng  in 
charge. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day  I  was  stand- 
ing near  the  door  of  the  grass  hut  that  we  had 
purchased  from  the  natives  as  a  lodging  for  our 
teachers  till  they  built  a  suitable  house  for  them- 
selves. Our  friends  inside  did  not  know  that  I 
was  near.  Their  boxes  and  bundles  had  been 
landed,  and  all  was  ready  for  us  to  start  for  the 
point  on  the  New  Guinea  coast  where  we  intended, 
if  possible,  to  form  our  next  station.  As  I  ap- 
proached I  heard  one  of  the  women  crying  most 
piteously;  it  was  Gucheng's  wife.     I  stood  for  a 


270         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

few  minutes  outside,  unwilling  to  intrude,  for  such 
grief  seemed  to  render  the  place  sacred.  "Oh,  my 
country!  my  country!  Why  did  we  leave  our 
happy  home  ?  Would  that  we  were  back  at  Lifu 
again!  These  people  will  kill  us  when  the  mission 
vessel  leaves,  or  they  will  steal  all  we  possess." 
Then  I  heard  her  husband,  in  tremulous  tones 
saying,  "We  must  remember  what  we  have  come 
here  for — not  to  get  pearl  shell,  or  trepang,  or  any 
earthly  riches,  but  to  tell  these  people  about  the 
true  God,  and  the  loving  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 
We  must  think  of  what  He  suffered  for  us.  If  they 
kill  us,  or  steal  our  goods,  whatever  we  may  suffer, 
it  will  be  very  little  compared  with  what  He  suffered 
for  us."  I  entered  the  hut,  and  talked  and  prayed 
with  them,  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  add  that  we 
wept  together.  Our  party  soon  joined  us,  and 
when  we  walked  down  to  the  boat  I  need  scarcely 
say  that  we  were  all  sad  and  sorrowful;  and  as  we 
pulled  off  to  the  ship,  and  beheld  the  weeping  little 
group  on  the  beach,  surrounded  by  naked,  noisy 
savages,  one  could  not  help  feeling  how  little  the 
world  knows  of  its  truest  heroes. 

We  were  absent  for  three  weeks  on  the  New 
Guinea  coast,  forming  stations  at  Dauan,  Saibai 
and  Katau.  On  our  return  we  were  delighted 
with  the  change  that  had   already  taken   place. 


THE  STOR\"  OF  GUCHENG        271 

Gucheng  and  his  party  had  evidently  heen  hard 
at  work;  with  the  help  of  the  natives  they  had  built 
a  neat  cottage,  a  great  improvement  upon  the 
surrounding  huts.  It  contained  a  living-  and  a  bed- 
room; in  the  middle  of  the  former  stood  a  table  and 
bench,  and  on  the  table  were  yams,  bananas,  and 
young  coconuts,  while  outside  were  a  crowd  of 
laughing  natives,  w^ho  all  seemed  anxious  to  show 
how  pleased  they  were  to  have  Gucheng  and  his 
wife  live  among  them.  We  spent  the  Sunday  there, 
and  had  a  most  interesting  service  in  the  coconut 
grove — the  best  of  all  places  for  public  worship  in 
such  climates. 

The  mission  in  the  gulf  suffered  from  sickness; 
different  islands  in  the  straits  and  points  on  the 
mainland  were  tried,  but  all  proved  unhealthy — 
even  Darnley  was  far  from  free  from  the  fatal 
fever.  This  led  me  to  seek  high  land  and  healthy 
localities  for  mission  stations  up  some  of  the  rivers 
of  which  I  had  heard  from  the  natives — the  Baxter, 
the  Fly,  and  the  Katan;  but  these  perilous  voyages 
led  to  no  practical  result.  With  Gucheng  and 
several  other  Loyalty  Island  teachers,  we  crossed 
the  gulf  and  formed  a  station  at  Yule  Island,  but 
this  also  proved  unhealthy. 

At  Port  Moresby,  where  Mr.  Lawes  settled  with 
the  Eastern  Polynesian  teachers,  the  little  mission 


272  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

cemetery  of  two  years'  growth,  with  its  eighteen 
graves,  told  a  sad  tale.  With  sick  and  dying 
teachers  around  us  in  both  branches  of  our  mission, 
we  determined  to  try  the  east  end  of  the  New 
Guinea  peninsula,  hoping  to  find  there  a  more 
favorable  climate.  Mr.  Lawes  and  I  made  a 
prospective  voyage,  found  the  natives  numerous, 
speaking  a  totally  different  language,  and  notorious 
cannibals — ^just  the  place  for  a  mission,  if  the  cli- 
mate would  allow  us  to  live  among  the  people. 

I  selected  six  Loyalty  Island  teachers,  who  were 
to  leave  their  wives  with  mine,  at  our  head  station 
in  Torres  Straits,  while  we  went  to  establish  the 
mission.  Gucheng  accompanied  me  and  threw 
himself  into  this  work  with  his  accustomed  energy. 
Indeed,  all  the  teachers  worked  well,  and  we  had 
no  difficulty  in  getting  native  helpers  for  very 
moderate  wages.  Dinner  Island,  which  is  now 
the  government  settlement  in  that  district,  was 
regarded  by  the  surrounding  tribes  as  neutral 
ground.  We  were  visited  from  all  parts,  and  some- 
times had  over  a  hundred  canoes  and  catamarans 
at  the  place  at  one  time.  From  the  first  we  were 
greatly  encouraged  by  the  attitude  of  the  natives. 
They  were,  nevertheless,  a  wild  set  of  cannibals, 
both  troublesome  and  dangerous,  easily  excited 
(but  fortunately  easily  appeased),  notorious  thieves, 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        273 

and  evidently  anxious  that  we  should  remain 
among  them,  probably  feeling  that  it  would  be 
more  profitable  to  fleece  us  than  to  eat  us,  seeing 
that  we  formed  the  connecting  link  between  them 
and  the  land  of  hoop-iron  and  beads  and  hatchets. 

Dinner  Island  proved  unhealthful  and  many  of 
our  teachers  died.  I  was  reluctantly  obliged  to 
give  up  all  hope  of  finding  suitable  localities  in 
New  Guinea  for  South  Sea  Island  teachers.  It 
became  evident  that  New  Guinea  must  be  evan- 
gelized, if  evangelized  at  all,  by  New  Guineans. 
The  responsibility  of  bringing  South  Sea  Islanders 
to  a  place  where  half  of  them  died  was  too  great, 
hence  we  resolved  to  established  a  "Papuan  Insti- 
tute," and  train  a  native  agency  from  among  the 
people  themselves. 

The  only  suitable  place  in  the  western  district 
seemed  to  be  Darnley  Island,  where  we  commenced 
the  mission,  and  this  we  secured  from  the  Queens- 
land government,  at  a  nominal  rental,  for  our 
educational  work.  The  shattered  and  almost 
hopeless  condition  of  our  mission,  and  an  urgent 
letter  from  the  directors,  had  led  me  to  take  up  our 
residence  for  a  time  on  the  more  healthy  and  ad- 
jacent island  of  Murray,  with  the  view  of  moving 
to  Darnley  later  on  when  the  mission  was  firmly 
established. 


274         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Buildings  for  the  Papuan  Institute  were  pro- 
vided by  a  friend  in  England,  and  in  company 
with  my  faithful  helper,  Gucheng,  w^e  visited  all 
the  mission  stations  in  the  western  district  to 
obtain  boys  for  our  industrial  school.  At  first 
they  were  not  very  willing  to  leave  their  homes, 
but  we  had  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  pupils  after 
the  first  year. 

From  the  three  newly  formed  churches  in  the 
district,  containing  an  aggregate  of  over  a  hundred 
members,  we  secured  a  dozen  volunteers  for  the 
Papuan  Institute,  earnest  young  men  who  were 
anxious  to  become  messengers  of  peace  to  their 
savage  countrymen — altho  I  dare  say  at  first  they 
would  have  preferred  going  anywhere  rather  than 
face  their  old  enemies  of  the  Fly  River,  yet  ulti- 
mately the  Fly  River  became  the  sphere  of  labor 
of  most  of  them.  Gucheng  did  good  service  in 
the  industrial  school  which  was  a  very  busy,  use- 
ful, and  popular  branch  of  our  work. 

Now  I  come  to  the  last  stage  of  the  faithful 
labors  of  this  devoted,  energetic  pioneer  evangelist 
of  New  Guinea,  of  whom  not  much  is  known 
among  the  churches  of  civilized  lands,  but  whose 
record  is  in  heaven.  The  last  scene  of  Gucheng's 
labors  was  in  the  great  Fly  River.  We  had  been 
preparing  for  some  time  for  the  establishment  of 


THE  STORY  OF  GUCHENG        275 

a  mission  on  the  banks  of  this  great  waterway  to 
the  interior  of  New  Guinea,  to  be  conducted 
by  young  men  from  the  institution,  headed  by  two 
Lifu  teachers,  with  the  means  of  retreat  in  case 
of  danger  from  fever  or  savages.  We  selected 
the  healthiest  season  of  the  year  for  establishing 
this  important  mission.  The  students  selected 
and  set  apart  for  this  work  were  all  earnest,  intel- 
ligent young  men,  in  whose  Christian  character 
and  devotedness  I  had  great  confidence.  They 
were  not  only  the  first  native  missionaries  from 
among  the  people  themselves,  but  the  first  con- 
verts of  our  New  Guinea  mission. 

The  first  Sunday  in  September,  1883,  will  be  a 
memorable  day  to  many  of  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  at  Murray  Island.  The  ordinance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  a  very  solemn  and  soul- 
refreshing  season.  I  spoke  earnestly  to  the  young 
men  about  to  leave  us,  and  in  the  afternoon — 
without  any  formal  ordination  service — I  publicly 
appointed  them  to  their  stations,  and  asked  each 
to  give  us  some  account  of  his  conversion,  and 
reason  for  wishing  to  become  an  evangelist,  and 
how  they  intended  to  do  their  work.  They  all 
spoke  well,  the  addresses  of  Gauri  and  Gabe 
being  particularly  appropriate,  and  led  us  to  feel 
that   they  were  entering  upon  their  work   in  the 


276         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

right  spirit.     On  the  following  day  we  left,    the 
whole  community  turning  out  to  see  us  off. 

Gucheng  and  Wacene  were  the  two  South  Sea 
Island  teachers  appointed  to  accompany  and 
help  the  first  band  of  native  workers.  Our  first 
point  was  the  Katan  River,  at  the  entrance  and  on 
each  side  of  which  a  large  village  is  situated,  the 
villages  of  Katan  and  Tureture,  where  our  first 
mission  stations  were  formed  on  the  mainland  in 
1871,  and  where  eight  different  South  Sea  Island 
teachers  have  tried  in  vain  to  carry  on  the  work, 
owing  to  the  fever  of  that  low  land.  The  last 
trial  made  was  by  my  faithful  Gucheng,  who  lost 
his  wife  there. 

After  carefully  feeling  our  way  among  the  reefs 
and  shifting  sand  banks  at  the  mouth  of  this 
great  river,  we  found  a  fine  harbor  opposite  the 
town  of  Kiwai,  formed  by  the  Mebu  and  two  other 
islands,  sheltered  from  all  winds  and  safe  at  all 
seasons.  We  landed  in  the  evening  and  had  a 
most  enjoyable  walk  on  a  fine,  sandy  beach.  We 
selected  a  site  for  the  mission  house  about  a  mile 
from  the  anchorage,  on  a  long  stretch  of  high 
ground,  fertile  and  well  wooded,  near  a  deserted 
village.  It  was  evident  that  natives  from  both 
sides  of  the  river  visited  this  place,  but  neither 
dare  remain  for  fear  of  the  other.     Next  morning 


THE  STORY  OF  (JUCHENG        277 

the  material  for  the  house  was  landed,  and  Gucheng 
was  again  in  his  element.  There  was  music  in 
the  forest,  but  it  came  from  American  axes,  falling 
trees,  and  cross-cut  saws,  mingled  with  peals  of 
laughter. 

Leaving  the  captain  and  crew  to  assist  in  erect- 
ing the  house,  I  went  about  fifteen  miles  to  locate 
Etage  and  his  wife  at  Bampton,  which  is  situated 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Fly  River.  This  is  the  place 
where  the  first  martyrs  of  the  New  Guinea  mis- 
sion suffered — two  Lifu  men  and  their  wives. 
The  natives  were  still  considered  a  thieving, 
treacherous,  savage  tribe,  delighting  in  skull- 
hunting.  However  they  were  friendly  and  inter- 
marrying with  the  people  of  Darnley,  and  Etage 
was  a  Darnley  Islander  whom  they  were  pleased 
to  receive  as  their  teacher. 

When  we  returned  to  Mibu,  Gucheng  and  his 
party  were  putting  the  iron  roof  on  their  little 
house,  which  stood  on  posts  seven  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  under  some  large  trees  near  the  beach. 
When  finished  we  attached  a  flag-staff  to  the  end 
of  the  roof,  on  which  we  hoisted  our  flag,  amidst 
three  hearty  cheers,  not  annexing  the  place  to  any 
kingdom  but  that  of  our  Lord  and  Master,  Christ. 

We  left  the  Venture^  an  old  decked  boat  of  four 
tons,   which   we   almf)st   rebuilt   at  the   industrial 


278         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

school.  This  was  necessary  for  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  tribes  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
— and  as  a  means  of  escape,  if  necessary.  On  the 
night  before  we  left  we  had  a  delightful  prayer- 
meeting  which  lives  in  my  memory.  It  was  a  beau- 
tiful moonlight  night,  everything  around  us  look- 
ing peaceful  and  lovely,  yet  the  lights  at  Kiwai  and 
other  villages  reminded  us  of  the  inhabitants  and 
their  awful  condition.  We  thought  of  the  mes- 
sage we  were  taking,  and  thanked  God  for  it,  for 
all  that  it  had  done  for  similar  tribes,  and  would 
do  for  them.  As  we  sailed  away  next  morning 
the  Venture  was  lying  peacefully  at  anchor  with 
the  dove  and  olive  branch  flying  at  the  masthead, 
and  our  new  little  mission  house  shining  among 
the  trees  in  the  glorious  morning  sun,  with  the 
British  ensign  floating  from  the  roof.  The  place 
had  already  a  civilized  look,  a  sign  of  what  was  to 
take  place  at  the  heathen  villages  along  the  banks 
of  the  river.  As  we  expected,  Gucheng  and  the 
new  teachers  lost  no  time  in  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  surrounding  villages,  especially  the  town 
of  Kiwai,  an  important  center  to  which  we  in- 
tended removing  our  station  as  soon  as  practi- 
cable. 

On  my  next  visit  to  the  Fly  River,  in  an  ordinary 
five-oared  whaleboat,  we  found  all  well  and  the 


THE  STOR^'  OF  GUCHENG         279 

work  advancing  most  satisfactorily.  We  visited 
the  wild  tribes  at  Kiwai  and  Samari,  where  we 
arranged  to  form  mission  stations,  in  the  mean- 
time taking  a  few  of  the  many  natives  from 
these  villages  who  were  anxious  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Darnley  and  Murray,  that  they  might  see  for 
themselves  the  effects  of  this  "Jesus  religion," 
of  which  they  were  hearing  so  much.  This  was 
exactly  what  we  desired,  knowing  that  our  guests, 
when  they  returned  with  us,  would  help  to  remove 
any  opposition  to  the  establishment  of  mission 
stations  at  their  villages.  The  few  weeks  spent  at 
our  headquarters  were  days  of  wonder  and  aston- 
ishment to  our  visitors.  Our  preparations  were 
made  for  forming  the  two  new  mission  stations 
at  Kiwai  and  Samari,  and  four  of  the  senior 
students  volunteered  to  assist  and  remain  with 
their  friends  for  a  time,  knowing  the  Fly  River 
men  and  the  danger  of  our  enterprise. 

Our  guests,  tho  pleased  with  their  visit,  w^ere 
anxious  to  go  home,  and  we  decided  to  return.  As 
we  waved  good-by  to  the  crowd  on  the  beach,  some 
confident,  others  buoyant,  all  wishing  us  Godspeed, 
we  little  thought  of  the  kind  of  reception  that 
awaited  us  at  Fort  Spicer.  Our  first  sadness  was 
to  see  the  flag  on  the  little  mission  house  flying  at 
half-mast,  and  our  grief  to  learn  that  the  first  South 


28o         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Sea  Island  pioneer  to  New  Guinea  had  gone  to  his 
reward.  Our  faithful  Gucheng  did  not  live  to  see 
and  take  part  in  the  establishment  of  the  stations 
at  Kiwai  and  Samari,  but  no  man  did  more  to 
make  it  possible.  His  record  is  a  noble  one,  which 
might  be  said  of  many  other  Polynesian  pioneers  in 
New  Guinea.  His  body  lies  on  a  lonely  island  in 
the  middle  of  the  Fly  River,  where  it  was  laid  by 
loving  hands  and  sorrowful  hearts,  but  "I  heard 
a  voice  from  heaven  saying,  Write,  Blessed  are 
the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord"  (Rev.  .xiv  :  13). 


Chapter  XIV 

JAMES  CHALMERS,  THE  "GREATHEART 

OF  NEW  GUINEA" 

BY 

Rev.  George  Robson,  D.  D. 

Editor    of   the   Missionary  Record   of    the   United 
Free  Church  of  Scotland 


Chapter  XIV 

JAMES    CHALMERS,   THE  "GREATHEART  OF 
NEW  GUINEA" 

'T^^HE  life  Story  of  James  Chalmers,  one  of  the 
most  heroic  and  successful  of  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries to  barbarous  races  in  missionary  history, 
is  well  worth  recording. 

In  geographical  circles  he  was  known  as  the  ex- 
plorer who  had  penetrated  farther  into  New  Guinea 
than  the  most  costly  government  expedition  had 
been  able  to  reach.  By  colonial  government  offi- 
cials he  was  held  in  honor  for  his  services  in  the 
promotion  of  peace  and  order  among  the  tribes. 
Vice-Admiral  Bridge,  formerly  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  Australian  Station,  says  :  "I  can  hon- 
estly say  that  I  do  not  know  how  I  should  have 
got  on  without  him.  He  had  an  equal  power  of 
winning  the  confidence  of  the  savages  quite  un- 
used to  strangers,  and  the  respect,  and  even  love, 

of  white  seamen It  is  difficult  to  do  justice 

in  writing  to  the  character  of  this    really    great 
Englishman.''      Robert     Louis     Stevenson     aptl}' 


284         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

styled  him  the  "Greatheart  of  New  Guinea,"  and 
desired  to  survive  him,  that  he  might  have  the 
opportunity  of  writing  his  biography. 

Spiritually,  James  Chalmers  was  a  son  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  at  Inverary,  Scotland. 
He  was  born  at  Ardrishaigin  1841 ;  but  his  parents 
shortly  afterward  removed  up  the  loch-side  to  the 
•county  town,  and  there  the  boy  grew  up,  inheriting 
the  striking  features  and  deep  blue  eyes  of  his 
Highland  mother,  thin  and  wiry  in  frame — with 
no  promise  of  the  stalwart  figure  that  came  with 
manhood — generous  in  soul,  of  irrepressible  energy, 
and  with  a  keen  enjoyment  of  frolic,  sports,  and 
adventure.  Twice  he  was  carried  home  apparently 
drowned,  and  he  is  said  to  have  four  times  res- 
cued others  from  drowning.  During  his  student 
days  at  Cheshunt  and  Highgate  he  is  known  on 
four  occasions  to  have  saved  life  in  this  way.  He 
was  still  a  boy  of  fifteen  when  the  first  seed  of 
missionary  impulse  lodged  in  his  heart.  One 
Sabbath  afternoon,  in  the  Sabbath-school,  Rev. 
Gilbert  Meikle  told  the  story  of  the  triumph  of  the 
cross  in  Fiji,  and  added,  "I  wonder  if  there  is  any 
lad  here  who  will  yet  become  a  missionary.  Is 
there  one  who  will  go  to  the  heathen  and  to  savages, 
and  tell  them  of  God  and  His  love?"  James 
Chalmers  went  behind   a  stone  wall  on  his  way 


I 

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f^^^^^l 

J.\.\Ii:.S    CllAL.MKKS, 
The   " Great heari  of  New   Guinea.'' 


■-^1 


ON   THE   SHORES    OF    NEW    GUINEA. 


A   CORNER   H\   DELENA,  A   NEW   GUINEA   VILLAGE. 


JAMES  CHALMERS  285 

home,  and,  kneeling  down,  gave  himself  to  God 
tor  this  work. 

As  the  lad  grew  up  he  showed  a  marked  coolness 
toward  religion.  In  1859,  however,  a  remarkable 
revival  stirred  the  little  town,  and  one  night  the 
news  came  to  Mr.  Meikle  that  James  Chalmers 
was  in  the  street,  crying  aloud  for  mercy.  Through 
that  crisis  he  was  wisely  guided  by  his  minister; 
and  then  the  lawyer's  clerk,  happy  in  the  grace 
of  salvation,  began  to  devote  his  free  hours  to  in- 
cessant evangelistic  work  in  the  town  and  neigh- 
borhood. James  Chalmers  later  passed  into  the 
service  of  the  Glasgow  City  Mission  in  connection 
with  Greyfriars  Church,  then  under  the  pastorate 
of  Professor  Calderwood.  His  work  lay  in  one 
of  the  most  degraded  districts  of  Glasgow,  and 
his  straightforward,  sympathetic  dealing  with  the 
fallen  and  the  suffering  sharpened  his  insight  into 
human  nature,  and  made  him  an  actor  in  many  a 
tragic  scene.  At  Greyfriars  Church  one  day  Dr. 
Turner,  of  Samoa,  encountered  the  young  mission- 
ary, and  laid  before  him  the  claims  of  the  foreign 
held.  The  memory  of  the  early  dedication  behind 
the  stone  wall  came  back  upon  him,  and  offering 
himself  to  the  London  Missionary  Society  for  serv- 
ice, he  was  accepted  for  training,  first  at  Ches- 
hunt  College  and  afterward  at  Highgate. 


286         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

In  Januarys  1866,  Chalmers  sailed  for  the  mis- 
sion field.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  a 
woman  whose  rare  fortitude  and  calm  discretion 
were  veiled  by  the  gentle  meekness  of  her  dispo- 
sition. Their  destination  was  Raratonga,  in  the 
Hervey  group  in  the  Pacific,  but  hardly  could 
their  way  have  been  more  full  of  peril  and  discour- 
agement. The  John  Williams,  in  which  they 
sailed,  was  nearly  wrecked  in  a  disastrous  gale  in 
the  Channel,  and  had  to  put  in  to  Weymouth  for 
repairs;  on  entering  Aneityum  it  struck  the  reef, 
and  was  with  great  difficulty  saved  from  sinking, 
and  taken  back  to  Sydney  for  further  repairs;  on 
leaving  Niue  it  was  finally  wrecked;  and  not  till 
seventeen  months  after  leaving  London  did  the 
travelers  land  at  Raratonga.  Chalmers'  courage 
was  an  inspiration  in  the  moment  of  peril;  he 
shared  with  the  seamen  their  hardest  toil.  And  he 
was  always  the  missionary.  Up  in  the  cross-trees 
of  the  main-mast  he  found  a  favorite  retreat  for 
studying  Raratongan,  while  among  the  roughest 
in  the  ship's  company  he  sought  and  won  souls 
for  Christ. 

Ten  years  were  spent  in  Raratonga.  He  landed 
on  the  island  in  the  season  of  its  direst  distress. 
Two  hurricanes  in  succession — an  unprecedented 
circumstance — had    devastated     the    island,    and 


JAMES  CHALMERS  287 

Chalmers  was  just  the  man  to  redeem  the  oppor- 
tunity of  such  a  situation.  Vigilant  and  prompt, 
but  patient  and  loving,  he  met  the  natives  with 
a  masterful,  brotherly  kindness,  which  com- 
pelled their  obedience,  while  it  drew  to  him  their 
trust  and  their  affection.  He  toiled  incessantly, 
preaching  the  Gospel,  dealing  with  individuals, 
training  the  students,  superintending  the  several 
stations  on  the  island,  and  visiting  the  other 
islands  in  the  group,  while  at  the  same  time  he  was 
bravely  weaning  the  natives  from  old  and  bad 
customs  and  educating  them  to  industry  and  inde- 
pendence. 

In  1 87 1  the  London  Missionary  Society  advanced 
on  New  Guinea  from  the  Loyalty  Islands.  The  pri- 
vations and  perils  of  the  enterprise  were  not  ignored. 
The  Papuans  were  reputed  to  be  the  most  degraded 
and  cruel  savages  in  all  the  world  of  islands;  but 
it  is  now  recognized  that  the  high-handed  proceed- 
ings of  the  white  traders,  which  were  nothing  less 
than  commercial  brigandage,  had  not  a  little  to 
do  with  the  deeds  of  blood  which  occasioned  this 
evil  repute.  When  Samuel  MacFarlane,  of  Lifu, 
was  appointed  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  new  ad- 
vance, every  student  in  the  Lifu  Institution  and 
every  native  teacher  in  that  island,  volunteered 
their  services. 


288         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

In  the  whole  history  of  missions,  there  are  no 
nobler  illustrations  of  a  true  understanding  of  the 
missionary  obligation,  and  no  nobler  instances  of 
personal  devotion,  than  are  to  be  found  among 
the  natives  of  Polynesia  who  gave  themselves  for 
the  work  in  New  Guinea.  To  dissuade  one  of 
the  first  band  from  venturing  to  Murray  Island, 
a  native  said : 

"There  are  alligators  there,  and  snakes,  and 
centipedes." 

"Hold,"  said  Tepeso,  "are  there  men  there  .?" 

"Oh  yes,  of  course;  but  they  are  such  dreadful 
savages  that  it  is  no  use  your  thinking  of  living 
among  them, " 

"That  will  do,"  said  Tepeso;  "wherever  there 
are  men,  missionaries  are  bound  to  go." 

In  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  mission  a  hundred 
and  twenty  Polynesian  teachers  died  of  fever,  were 
poisoned,  or  were  massacred ;  but  for  every  vacancy 
scores  of  others  immediately  offered. 

The  part  of  that  large  island — three  times  the 
size  of  Britain — which  was  selected  for  the  enter- 
prise was  the  southern  coast  of  the  eastern  section, 
from  the  Fly  River  eastward.  Various  points  were 
selected,  at  which  the  Polynesian  teachers  were 
located.  Three  years  later  the  Rev.  W.  G.  Lawes 
arrived  at  Port  Moresby,  the  first  European  mission- 


JAMES  CHALMERS  289 

ary  to  settle  in  that  section  of  the  island;  and  after 
another  three  years  James  Chalmers  arrived. 

The  story  of  the  New  Guinea  Mission  teems 
with  heroisms,  shadowed  by  tragedies  and  illumined 
with  the  triumphs  of  Gospel  love.  Chalmers  said 
of  this  mission:  "I  know  of  no  mission  that  can 
compare  with  it  in  results;"  and  the  story  of  it 
forms  one  of  the  greatest  missionary  epics  of  mod- 
ern times.  The  transformation  already  effected 
where  the  Gospel  has  gained  a  footing,  and  the 
development  of  native  evangelistic  forces,  are  a 
splendid  demonstration  of  the  power  of  the  name 
of  Christ  in  one  of  the  darkest  places  of  the  earth. 

A  single  incident  illustrates  the  process  of  trans- 
formation. One  evening  Chalmers  arrived  at  a 
large  village,  where  his  coming  had  been  heralded 
and  was  warmly  welcomed  by  the  chief.  Their 
temples,  where  the  slain  were  presented  to  the 
idols,  were  the  finest  he  had  seen;  the  carvings  such 
that  Chalmers  distinguished  the  natives  as  "canni- 
bal semi-civilized  savages."  To  a  crowd  of  them 
gathered  in  the  largest  temple,  lit  only  by  flickering 
firelights,  with  skulls  in  abundance  all  round,  the 
two  teachers  began  to  preach  Christ;  and  at  last 
Chalmers  went  out  to  sleep  on  the  platform  out- 
side. When  he  awoke,  after  sunrise,  and  went 
into  the  temple,  he  found  one  of  the  teachers  still 


290         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

at  it,  and  hoarse  with  talking;  they  would  not  let 
him  sleep,  they  had  always  more  to  ask.  Once 
more  he  told  them  the  story  of  Christ;  and  when  he 
had  finished,  there  was  but  one  response  from  all 
their  lips:  "No  more  fighting,  Tamate — no  more 
man-eating;  we  have  heard  good  news,  and  we 
shall  strive  for  peace." 

It  would  require  a  volume  to  describe  the  part 
which  Chalmers  took  in  planting  the  Gospel  in 
Guinea.  The  main  fact  is  that  he  was  himself  a 
living  epistle  of  it.  His  very  aspect,  at  once  com- 
manding and  winning,  gave  him  favor  with  the 
natives.  Alert,  resourceful,  and  muscular,  he  had 
the  knack,  in  every  critical  moment,  of  doing  ex- 
actly the  right  thing  to  avert  peril  or  to  evoke 
friendship.  To  win  the  trust  of  the  natives,  he 
knew  that  he  must  trust  them;  and  tho  his 
life  was  almost  in  constant  peril,  he  carried  no 
weapon,  except  a  simple  walking  stick.  The  love 
he  had  for  the  people  gave  him  a  vision  of  their 
better  qualities,  and  made  him  yearn  the  more  for 
their  redemption;  and  so  they  came  to  cherish 
toward  him  a  boundless  confidence  and  affection, 
and  his  name  "Tamate"  — the  native  pronuncia- 
tion of  Chalmers — was  spoken  with  wonder  among 
tribes  that  had  never  seen  him,  as  that  of  the  "white 
man  who  brings  peace  and  friendship."     Along 


JAMES  CHALMERS  291 

the  extending  line  of  stations  he  seemed  to  be 
ubiquitous,  promptly  appearing  wherever  occasion 
required,  and  always  "  saving  tHe  situation. "  He 
was  the  servant  of  all;  and  at  his  own  station  he 
would  give  himself  to  the  teaching  of  the  alphabet 
to  a  class  of  litde  children  with  as  whole-hearted 
earnestness  as  if  he  were  quelling  a  fight  or  ad- 
dressing a  multitude.  And  while  thus  absorbed 
in  immediate  duties,  he  was  always  considering  and 
planning  with  statesmanlike  foresight  the  future 
development  of  the  work  to  the  regions  beyond. 

Chalmers  was  not  a  learned  theologian  or  scien- 
tist, but  he  had  great  common  sense,  a  very  prac- 
tical turn  of  mind,  boundless  energy,  a  love  of 
adventure,  marvelous  tact,  and  sympathy  and  true 
unselfishness.  He  once  wrote:  "We  speak  too 
much  of  sacrifices  for  the  Gospel's  sake.  May 
there  never  be  a  missionary  or  his  wife  in  this 
mission  who  will  speak  of  their  sacrifices  or  what 
they  have  suffered." 

Chalmers'  energy  was  chiefly  directed  to  finding 
out  the  most  suitable  localities  for  the  native  evan- 
gelists, the  gaining  of  protection  for  them  from  the 
chiefs,  and  tolerance  by  the  people.  He  even  ap- 
pealed to  their  selfish  and  mercenary  instincts, 
and  sought  to  persuade  tribes  habituated  to  massa- 
cre and  war  to  be  at  peace,  with  a  view  to  securing 


292         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

the  happiness  of  the  people  and  a  permanent  basis 
for  Christian  effort.  He  made  use  of  the  friends 
he  made  among  the  heathen  to  communicate  to 
other  heathen  the  elementary  knowledge  of  Chris- 
tian truth  and  civilized  customs.  No  white  man 
had  ever  had  a  more  wide  and  varied  knowledge 
of  the  mainland  of  New  Guinea,  or  visited  more 
tribes,  or  made  more  "friends,"  or  endured  more 
hardships,  or  faced  more  perils,  than  Chalmers. 
His  powers  of  endurance  were  remarkable.  He 
would  talk  and  wade  and  swim  with  almost  inex- 
haustible energy  on  his  tours.  He  could  do  without 
food  or  sleep  as  few  other  men  could.  His  mar- 
velous presence  of  mind  and  great  tact  in  dealing 
with  men  often  stood  him  in  good  stead. 

There  grew  up  among  many  of  the  people  a  great 
respect  and  admiration  for  this  majestic  man  who 
was  always  brave  and  kind,  gentle  to  women,  lit- 
de  children,  and  the  distressed.  He  was  a  peace- 
maker everywhere,  and  always  an  agreeable  com- 
panion, so  that  they  trusted  him  implicitly  and 
were  proud  to  call  him  "friend."  Even  non- 
Christian  natives  often  warned  him  to  avoid  un- 
friendly tribes,  and  would  accompany  him  rather 
than  have  him  go  alone. 

On  one  occasion  he  resolved  to  visit  the  chief 
of  a  wild  tribe,  notorious  for  his  many  deeds   ot 


JAMES  CHALMERS  293 

treachery.  A  woman  on  the  beach  warned  him 
not  to  land.  When  he  did  so  the  crowd  seemed 
threatening,  and  when  he  approached  the  chief 
his  present  was  decHned  with  something  Hke  dis- 
dain. Seeing  the  serious  aspect  of  affairs,  he  said 
to  his  companion,  "Gould,  we  had  better  getaway 
from  here.  Keep  your  eyes  all  round,  and  let  us 
make  quicklv  for  the  beach."  The  crowd  fol- 
lowed, one  man  with  a  great  club  uncomfortably 
near,  "I  must  have  that  club,"  said  Chalmers  to 
himself,  "or  I  fear  the  club  will  have  me."  Talk- 
ing to  the  savage  all  the  way,  he  skilfully  diverted 
his  attention  by  an  attractive  present,  seized  the 
club,  rushed  to  the  beach,  and  gained  the  boat 
just  in  time. 

Mr.  Chalmers  gave  the  following  account  of 
work  in  his  own  immediate  sphere,  which  is  illus- 
trative of  his  usual  methods  of  work  at  Saguane: 
"Two  years  ago  we  began  to  hold  morning  and 
evening  services  in  the  chapel  for  all  the  people  of 
the  village.  These  services  were  never  to  exceed 
ten  minutes.  A  hymn  is  sung,  a  short  passage  of 
Scripture  read,  and  prayer  offered.  At  first  very 
few  came,  but  I  insisted  on  the  services  being  con- 
tinued, and  every  morning  at  sunrise  and  every 
evening  at  sunset  the  bell  rings.  We  have  many 
visitors  from  time  to  time,  and  generally  these  at- 


294         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

tend.  Among  others  we  had  Mauata  and  Ture- 
ture  natives,  and  they  were  so  taken  with  the 
morning  and  evening  prayers  that  on  their  return 
to  their  homes  they  introduced  the  same  custom 
there.  Soon  their  house  of  meeting  was  crowded, 
and  a  great  blessing  was  given  them.  They  began 
to  observe  the  Sabbath  and  did  what  they  could 
to  have  three  services  in  the  day — that  is  the  ortho- 
dox number  in  these  parts.  Now  they  must  have 
missionaries,  so  large  deputations  waited  upon  me 
and  I  promised  to  do  my  best  for  them  and  get, 
as  they  begged  for,  Samoans.  They  will  not  have 
the  Straits  natives  as  teachers. 

"  The  tide  of  blessing  spread  to  other  parts  along 
the  coast,  and  to  the  river.  New  chapels  were 
built  by  the  people  of  Mauata,  Tureture,  Kunini, 
Geavi  (Wigi)  Parama,  and  now,  here,  lasa  and 
Ipisid  are  beginning.  All  services  are  well  attended 
on  week-days  and  Sabbaths,  and  there  is  a  great 
interest  shown  in  all  they  hear.  In  October  I  bap- 
tized one  hundred  and  four,  and  last  month  four- 
teen, besides  very  many  children,  and  there  are 
now  awaiting  baptism  a  very  great  number.  Wher- 
ever our  people  go  they  hold  services  and  do,  tho 
in  much  ignorance,  what  they  can  for  Christ. 

"  Here  three  times  on  the  Sabbath  the  chapel  is 
crowded.     At  eleven  we  have    Sunday-school   in 


JAMES  CHALMERS  295 

our  school-room,  when  we  have  a  large  attendance 
of  young  men,  boys,  and  girls.  At  the  same  time, 
in  the  chapel,  the  teacher's  wife  has  the  women, 
old  and  young.  During  the  week  we  have  meet- 
ings for  prayer,  and  many  men  often  join  us. 

"We  have  had  a  good  average  attendance 
at  school  here  throughout  the  year — fifty-four. 
Living  with  us  are  lads  from  other  villages.  We 
will  not  have  them  from  this  village  to  live  in  the 
grounds.  The  school  is  so  popular  that  we  have 
had  to  turn  many  applicants  from  other  villages 
away.  A  goodly  number,  twenty,  read  simple 
English  fairly  well." 

On  the  coast  of  New  Guinea,  covering  a  dis- 
tance of  some  hundreds  of  miles,  there  are  now, 
mainly  as  the  result  of  Chalmers'  labors,  eleven 
European  missionaries,  with  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two  trained  native  teachers,  and  a  consid- 
erable number  of  other  helpers,  who  at  stations 
far  apart  have  gathered  converts,  and  are  witness- 
ing for  Christ  and  civilization  in  the  "regions 
beyond."  While  honor  is  given  to  Chalmers,  let 
honor  be  also  given  to  the  European  and  Poly- 
nesian missionaries  who  have  shared  his  labors 
and  seconded  his  efforts,  and  to  whom  is  left  the 
task  of  carrying  on  their  common  work  for  God. 

The   number  of  church-members    in   the  New 


296         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Guinea  Mission  amounts  to  more  than  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred,  and  the  adherents  to  more  than 
six  thousand.  In  their  ingathering  many  have 
shared;  but  as  an  explorer,  peacemaker,  teacher, 
encourager  of  trade  and  commerce,  and  all  round 
example  of  manly  and  Christian  virtues  among 
black  and  white  races  alike,  he  stood  prominent. 

After  his  wife's  death  his  headquarters  were  re- 
moved to  Port  Moresby,  where  in  1881  the  first 
church  was  opened  and  the  first  three  converts 
baptized.  So  he  advanced  westward,  until  at  last 
he  established  himself  at  Saguane,  on  a  large 
sandy  island  dividing  the  main  outlet  of  Fly  River. 
Driven  from  it  by  the  encroachments  of  the  sea, 
he  moved  to  Daru,  an  island  forty  miles  to  the 
south,  and  the  seat  of  the  western  magistracy. 

From  there,  one  day  in  mid-April,  1901,  he  sailed 
on  the  Niue,  a  "beautiful  little  lugger"  of  fifteen 
tons,  given  to  the  mission  some  years  ago  by  the 
church  in  the  island  of  that  name,  formerly  known 
as  Savage  Island.  He  was  accompanied  by  his 
recently  appointed  colleague,  the  Rev.  Oliver  Tom- 
kins  and  twelve  students.  Their  destination  was 
the  Aird  River,  to  the  northeast  corner  of  the  Gulf 
of  Papua,  the  one  blank  spot  in  the  knowledge 
possessed  of  the  southern  coast  of  New  Guinea. 
Chalmers  had  visited  that  quarter  once  or  twice, 


JAMES  CHALMERS  297 

but  had  had  very  Httle  communication  with  the 
people.  They  had  attracted  him  as  a  fine,  warlike 
race,  who  would  furnish  splendid  Christians.  It 
is  said  that  there  was  tribal  war,  and  Chalmers 
hoped  to  make  peace.  At  Aird  River  the  whole 
party  put  off  from  the  Niue  in  a  small  boat;  and 
as  they  were  about  to  land,  a  fleet  of  canoes  filled 
with  armed  cannibals  swept  round  them,  and  they 
were  seen  no  more. 

In  one  of  his  last  letters  Chalmers  wrote:  "Time 
shortens  and  I  have  much  to  do.  How  grand  it 
would  be  to  sit  down  in  the  midst  of  work  and  just 
hear  the  Master  say, '  Your  part  is  finished ;  come !'  " 

His  desire  was  granted,  tho  not  in  the  way  he 
had  in  mind.  The  report  of  the  massacre  of  Chal- 
mers and  Tomkins  was  first  brought  to  Port 
Moresby  on  Saturday,  April  27th.  Fortunately 
the  lieutenant-governor  was  in  port  with  the  Merrie 
England,  and  on  hearing  the  news  he  at  once 
decided  to  go  and  investigate. 

The  Merrie  England  anchored  off  Goaribari 
Island,  in  the  Fly  River,  about  2  P.  M.  on  May  2d. 
The  whole  expedition,  consisting  of  about  twenty 
Europeans  and  forty  natives,  was  divided  into  six 
parties,  and  made  for  the  island  in  six  boats,  towed 
by  a  steam-launch.  At  Risk  Point  numerous 
natives  were  seen  attempting  to  cross  the  channel 


298         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

in  catamarans,  but  at  sight  of  the  launch  they 
turned  back  and  fled  into  the  swamps.  At  4:30 
p.  M.  the  first  village  was  reached  (Dopima),  and 
here  two  boats  were  left  to  search,  while  the  rest 
proceeded  to  the  second  village,  Turotere,  The 
steam-launch  and  boats  went  ashore,  but  as  they 
neared  the  beach  about  a  hundred  armed  natives 
rushed  out  of  the  swamp  and  fired  their  arrows 
at  them.  His  excellency  then  gave  the  signal,  and 
several  volleys  were  fired.  The  party  then  landed, 
and  rushed  after  the  fugitives.  Leaving  two  more 
boats  at  the  second  village,  the  lieutenant-governor 
went  in  the  steam-launch  with  two  remaining  boats 
round  the  point  to  look  for  other  villages.  At 
Aidia  he  was  attacked,  and  fired  upon  the  natives 
who  ran  into  the  bush.  Desultory  firing  con- 
tinued in  the  three  villages,  and  a  loud  explosion 
at  the  second  village  announced  that  a  large  war- 
canoe  had  been  blown  up  with  dynamite. 

The  next  morning  his  excellency  came  off,  and 
reported  that  he  had  abundant  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  the  murder.  A  captured  prisoner  had 
given  them  the  whole  story,  which  was  as  follows: 
"The  Nine  anchored  at  Risk  Point  on  April  7, 
and  a  crowd  of  natives  came  off.  As  it  was  near 
sunset  Tamate  gave  them  some  presents,  and 
made  signs  that  they  were  to  go  away  and  the 


JAMES  CHALMERS  299 

next  day  he  would  visit  them  ashore.  At  dayhght 
next  morning  a  great  crowd  of  natives  came  off 
and  crowded  the  vessel  in  every  part.  They  re- 
fused to  leave,  and  in  order  to  induce  them  to  do  so 
Tamate  gave  Bob,  the  captain,  orders  to  give  them 
presents.  Still  they  refused  to  move,  and  then 
Tamate  said  he  would  go  ashore  with  them,  and 
he  told  Tomkins  to  remain  on  board.  The  latter 
declined  and  went  ashore  with  Tamate,  followed 
by  a  large  number  of  canoes.  As  soon  as  they 
landed  the  whole  party  were  massacred  and  their 
heads  cut  off.  The  boat  was  smashed  up,  and  the 
clothing  distributed.  All  the  bodies  were  dis- 
tributed and  eaten,  Tomkins'  being  eaten  in  the 
village  of  Dopima  (where  they  were  all  killed), 
the  body  of  Tamate  being  taken  to  Turotere.  No 
remains  of  the  bodies  could  at  first  be  found,  but 
later  Chalmers'  skull  and  hat  were  recovered  and 
pieces  of  the  smashed  boat.  Altho  no  natives 
were  fired  upon  unless  they  first  attacked,  some 
twenty-four  were  killed  and  many  more  wounded. 
His  excellency  gave  orders  for  all  the  fighting-men's 
houses  and  war-canoes  to  be  destroyed,  but  no 
dwellins-houses.  This  was  done  in  all  the  nine 
surrounding  villages.  The  houses  and  dubus  were 
found  filled  with  skulls — in  one  dubu  alone  seven 
hundred  skulls,  and  in  another  four  hundred." 


300         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Tamate  died  in  New  Guinea  for  New  Guinea 
as  he  wished.  He  finished  his  course;  he  won  the 
crown.  Thank  God  for  the  work  he  accompHshed. 
May  God  give  us  grace  to  imitate  him  in  his 
love  and  zeal  in  the  Master's  service,  that  we,  too, 
may  hear  with  him  the  Master's  voice:  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant.  .  .  .  Enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

No  vengeance  was  asked  for,  or,  rather,  only 
the  revenge  of  Christian  love,  such  as  burned  in 
Tamate's  heart.  When  the  first  Gordon  was  mur- 
dered in  Erromanga,  the  second  Gordon  went  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  love  over  his  brother's  grave. 
When  he  too  was  killed,  young  Robertson  and  his 
brave  wife  saw  in  the  crime  a  call  to  choose  that 
island  as  their  sphere  of  work.  Now  it  is  a  Chris- 
tian island.  So  the  death  of  Tamate  was  a  call  to 
messengers  of  the  cross  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  those 
savage  tribes  for  love  to  whom  he  counted  not  his 
life  dear  unto  him.  A  memorial  station  has  been 
started  at  the  very  place  where  Chalmers  was 
killed,  and  bids  fair  to  be  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
in  New  Guinea. 


Chapter  XV 
MIRACLES    AMONG    THE    MAORIS    OF 
NEW  ZEALAND 

BY 

Rev.    Donald    MacDougall,    B.D. 
Author    of  "The  Conversion  of  the  Maori" 


Chapter  XV 

MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS 

'  I  ''HERE  is  no  more  striking  illustration  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ  as  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth  than  the  con- 
version of  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand;  a  whole 
nation  of  cannibals  in  a  quarter  of  a  century 
made  nominally  Christians  through  the  preaching 
of  the  Gospel. 

According  to  tradition,  Maoriland  was  discov- 
ered by  Te  Kupe,  a  priest,  who  lived  on  an  island 
called  Hawaiki  (perhaps  Hawaii,  to  the  natives 
of  which  the  Maoris  bear  a  strong  resemblance). 
This  priest  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  ruling 
chief  of  Hawaiki,  and  was  compelled  to  flee  from 
his  island  home  to  save  his  life.  After  many, 
many  moons,  he  came  back,  and  was  received  as 
one  returned  from  another  world.  The  story  he 
brought  was  far  more  surprising  than  his  reappear- 
ance. He  told  them,  in  glowing  language,  of  a 
wonderful  country  which  he  had  discovered 
toward   the   south,   of  its   richness,   huge   forests, 

303 


304  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

burning  mountains,  steaming  lakes,  gigantic  birds, 
and  other  marvels. 

This  account  of  fairyland  set  the  natives  of  the 
home  island  wild  with  excitement  and  passion  to 
seek  its  shores.  Indeed  Te  Kupe  himself  was 
now  regarded  as  little  less  than  a  god.  Prepara- 
tions were  made  by  the  more  adventurous  spirits 
to  visit  and  explore  this  alluring  land,  and  six 
great  canoes  were  constructed.  They  were  laden 
with  provisions  and  water,  and  one  day  they  left 
Hawaiki  for  the  south.  Days  passed  with  no  sight 
of  anything  but  water.  But  eventually  land  was 
reached.  Te  Kupe's  canoe,  the  Aotea,  was  the 
first  to  get  to  shore,  and  thus  the  Maori  name 
"Aotearoa"  was  given  to  New  Zealand. 

The  physical  features  of  New  Zealand  are  very 
interesting.*  The  4000  miles  of  seacoast  con- 
tain some  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world;  there 
are  highlands,  with  the  Pumice  Hills,  the  volcano 
Tongariro,  6000  feet  high,  and  Mount  Ruapahu, 
3000  feet  higher,  and  others  rising  to  a  height  of 
14,000  feet;  the  forests  are  so  dense  that  beasts 
of  prey  are  not  found  and  sound  does  not  penetrate; 
there  are  fine  rivers  and  the  boiling  lake  of  Rota 
Mahana. 

*The  account  of  the  earlv  condition  of  the  Maoris  is  from 
an  article  by  Rev.  Arthur  t.  Pierson,  D.D. 


MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS    305 

The  Maoris,  in  the  days  when  Europe  first  made 
their  acquaintance,  Hved  in  very  small  unfurnished 
dwellings,  not  high  enough  to  permit  a  man  to 
stand  upright.  Their  cooking  utensils  were  a  few 
stones.  Polygamy  had  no  limits  but  the  ability 
of  a  man  to  procure  wives;  every  household  was 
marked  with  daily  strifes  and  deadly  hatred.  Ex- 
treme barbarism  prevailed,  in  fact  the  lowest  type 
of  savage  life.  New-born  babes  were  left  in  neg- 
lect to  cry  themselves  to  death.  When  five  days 
old,  infants  were  sprinkled  or  dipped  at  a  stream 
and  named,  while  a  priest  mumbled  a  prayer  to 
an  unknown  spirit,  "May  this  child  become  brave 
and  warlike,"  or,  perhaps,  "cruel,  adulterous, 
murderous. "  Stones  were  sometimes  forced  down 
the  throat  to  make  the  heart  hard  and  pitiless. 

Tabu  prevailed.  It  set  apart  men  from  all  com- 
mon approach — no  one  dared  visit  or  converse 
with  a  tabued  person;  death  was  the  penalty  for 
being  found  in  a  canoe  on  a  tabued  day,  or  for  a 
woman  to  eat  certain  articles  of  food.  Tattoomg 
with  fish  bones,  dipped  in  indelible  dye,  was  quite 
universal,  and  this  process  was  slow,  painful  and 
prostrating.  Superstitions  too  absurd  to  be  soberly 
recorded  ruled  the  people.  A  pain  in  the  back 
was  treated  by  jumping  and  treading  on  the  patient. 
Dreams   and   omens  were   regarded    as   infallible. 


3o6         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

The  issue  of  a  war  was  determined  in  advance  by 
setting  up  sticks  to  represent  contestants  and  watch- 
ing which  were  blown  down.  Jugglers  were  their 
oracles,  and  witchcraft  was  the  dreaded  foe,  to 
defeat  whose  malign  designs  any  innocent  person 
was  liable  to  the  most  cruel  death. 

The  Maoris  were  the  worst  kind  of  cannibals. 
They  drank  the  blood  of  enemies  as  it  flowed  on  the 
battle-field,  and  then  feasted  on  their  roasted 
remains.  Their  virtues  were  so  few,  and  their 
vices  so  many  and  appalling,  that  not  a  few  Chris- 
tians doubted  whether  there  was  anything  left 
worth  saving,  or  possible  to  use  as  a  basis  for  the 
Gospel.  They  could  scarce  be  called  idolaters, 
for  they  were  so  low  sunk  in  barbarism  that  they 
had  not  even  the  invention  to  construct  a  god,  and 
had  no  gods  nor  any  objects  of  worship.  Thunder 
they  attributed  to  Atuoy  a  great  spirit  whom  they 
feared  as  the  author  of  all  calamities.  They  be- 
lieved him  to  come  as  a  lizard  and  prey  on  the  vitals 
of  the  sick,  and  hence  incantations  were  used,  and 
they  threatened  to  burn  or  kill  and  eat  the  demon 
unless  he  should  depart.  They  also  believed  in 
Wiro,  the  Satan  of  the  Maoris.  They  were  virtually 
atheists,  or,  at  best,  devil-worshippers.  They  had 
a  vague  belief  in  a  future  state,  but,  of  course,  it 
was    robed    in    gross    and    sensual    conceptions. 


MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS  307 

When  a  chief  died,  slaves  were  killed  to  wait  on 
him,  and  widows  sometimes  put  themselves  to 
death  to  rejoin  their  husbands. 

When,  at  Samuel  Marsden's  request,  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  sent  out  three  laborers  in  18 14, 
they  were  met  at  first  with  curiosity,  then  with 
distrust  and  hate.  The  task  of  acquiring  the 
language  was  great,  but  it  was  next  to  impossible 
even  then  to  gain  a  hearing.  The  few  who  came, 
almost  nude,  or  in  fantastic  dress,  would  rudely 
leave  in  the  midst  of  the  service,  saying  aloud: 
"That's  a  lie;   let's  go." 

When,  in  182 1,  Samuel  Leigh  and  other  Wes- 
leyan  missionaries  went  to  Wangaroa,  the  chief 
Jarra  bade  them  welcome;  but  Mr.  Leigh  and 
his  colleagues  had  had  some  hints  beforehand  of 
Jarra's  treacherous  nature.  He  was  one  of  those 
who,  twelve  years  before,  had  left  Port  Jackson 
for  England  with  a  few  other  Maoris.  Captain 
Thompson  found  Jarra  mutinous;  he  rebelled, 
refused  to  work,  claiming  to  be  a  chief's  son,  and 
was  reduced  to  submission  only  by  being  whipped 
and  half  starved.  He  brooded  over  his  punish- 
ment, and  hatched  a  terrible  revenge.  He  pre- 
tended to  be  penitent,  and  gained  the  captain's 
confidence.  At  Wangaroa,  Jarra  moved  his  father 
to  vengeance.    With  great  subtlety  he  induced  the 


3o8         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

captain  and  crew  to  land,  drew  them  into  the 
woods,  under  pretense  of  selecting  timber,  then 
murdered  them,  and,  in  their  clothes,  went  to 
the  ship,  assaulted  all  he  could  find,  and  plun- 
dered the  vessel.  But  a  sudden  retribution  was 
awaiting  these  murderers  and  plunderers.  Jarra's 
father  set  a  powder  keg  on  the  lower  deck,  and 
amused  himself  trying  the  muskets,  a  large  num- 
ber of  New  Zealanders  being  on  board.  An  acci- 
dental spark  caused  an  explosion,  which  blew 
up  the  upper  works  of  the  ship  and  killed  every 
Maori  on  board.  Then  the  natives  on  shore  set 
fire  to  the  vessel  and  ate  every  survivor. 

With  such  a  record,  Jarra  was  not  likely  to  be 
trusted,  and  about  six  weeks  after  they  landed  he 
began  to  show  his  tiger  teeth.  He  threatened  to 
burn  Mr.  Turner's  house  and  eat  the  missionary 
and  his  wife,  simply  to  extort  a  present.  Other 
like-minded  chiefs  harassed  the  missionaries  by 
similar  threats  and  outrages,  but  were  kept  at  bay 
by  the  remarkable  Christian  coolness  and  fortitude 
of  these  brave  souls. 

The  cannibalism  of  the  Maoris  has  never  been 
exceeded  in  atrocity.  Mr.  Turner  found  several 
chiefs  rollicking  by  a  fire.  On  turning  toward 
the  fire  he  saw  a  human  being  roasting  between 
the  logs.     Sick  at  heart,  he  tried  to  warn    them 


MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS    309 

of  the  wrath  of  God,  to  preach  to  them  the  new 
law  of  love;  but  to  what  an  audience!  An  Eng- 
lish missionary,  while  on  a  cruise,  touched  at  New 
Zealand  for  fresh  food,  fruit  and  vegetables.  Of 
these  he  obtained  a  fresh  supply,  and  was  about 
leaving,  when  a  chief  asked  him  if  he  would  like 
some  flesh  food.  Says  the  missionary:  "Thinking 
that  doubtless  they  had  hogs,  I  said  'Yes.'  He  gave 
a  quick  glance  around  him,  as  if  he  were  looking 
for  a  messenger,  and  singled  out  and  called  to  a  fine 
young  lad,  apparently  about  eighteen  years  of  age. 
The  boy  came  and  stood  before  him;  and  before 
I  knew  what  he  was  about  to  do,  and  having  my 
back  turned  to  him,  looking  at  the  fruit,  etc.,  I 
heard  the  sound  of  a  heavy  blow,  and  looking 
quickly  around,  found  the  still  quivering  body  of 
the  boy  laid  at  my  feet,  with  the  words:  ' Hevi 
ano  te  kaiP'  (Is  that  blood  sufficient  for  you.?) 
Horror-stricken,  I  denounced  the  deed  most 
bitterly,  and,  leaving  all  the  provisions  behind 
on  the  ground,  returned  sorrowfully  on  board." 

The  natives  were  very  indolent.  The  mission- 
aries could  get  no  help  in  building  the  mission 
premises,  and  not  until  1824  were  the  buildings 
completed.  Where  idleness  prevailed,  curiosity, 
its  kindred  vice,  also  existed,  and  this  led  the  na- 
tives to  send  their  children  to  learn  to  read,  and  so 


310  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

many  of  the  young  Maoris  were  taught  the  cate- 
chism and  learned  to  pray  and  sing.  The  same 
curiosity  led  the  adults  to  go  and  hear  what  the 
missionaries  had  to  say,  so  that  the  work  looked 
hopeful.  But  despair  came.  A  civil  war  became 
the  occasion  for  acts  of  violence;  the  mission 
houses  were  burned,  and  it  was  a  long  time  before 
quiet  was  restored  and  houses  and  fences  rebuilt. 

Chief  Jarra  was  taken  very  ill.  The  death  of  a 
Maori  chief  rings  the  tocsin  of  vengeance — the 
quarrels  and  grudges  of  his  life  are  then  settled. 
The  natives  insulted  the  missionaries,  stole  their 
goods,  broke  down  their  fences,  and  replied  to 
expostulation  only  with  new  threats  of  worse 
violence.  Jarra  gave  ominous  signs  that  if  he 
should  die  the  missionaries  would  be  held  account- 
able for  the  fatal  explosion  on  board  the  Boyd, 
when  so  many  Maoris  were  killed,  as  the  God  of 
the  Christians  had  caused  that  spark  to  leap  from 
the  gunlock  to  the  powder  keg.  Of  course,  with 
such  unreasoning  and  insane  passions  no  argu- 
ment was  possible. 

The  women  and  children  were  sent  away  to  a 
distance,  and  the  missionaries  lived  for  weeks  in 
constant  apprehension.  Jarra  died,  charging  his 
followers  to  exact  vengeance  for  his  wrongs.  The 
poultry  of  the  missionaries  was  stolen,  and  some 


MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS   311 

of  it  was  offered  as  a  sacrifice  to  Jarra's  father. 
In  January,  1827,  the  whole  party  of  Wesleyan 
laborers  were  compelled  to  embark  for  New  South 
Wales,  after  undergoing  numerous  exposures  and 
barely  escaping  with  their  lives  from  these  treach- 
erous and  cruel  savages. 

To  one  of  the  New  Zealand  chiefs,  however,  their 
departure  was  a  matter  of  great  regret.  Patuone 
had  "rubbed  noses"  with  the  missionaries,  and 
was  known  to  be  very'  friendly  to  Europeans. 
From  him,  in  October,  1827,  came  an  invitation 
for  the  exiles  to  return.  It  was  an  irresistible 
Macedonian  cry;  and  the  whole  band,  in  the  early 
part  of  the  next  year,  landed  on  the  north  island 
and  settled  in  Patuone's  province. 

Two  years  of  fruitless  labor  passed  by.  Few 
would  hear  the  message.  The  very  chief  whose 
letter  had  recalled  them  neither  attended  their  place 
of  worship  nor  gave  them  any  encouragement. 
With  great  faith,  seen  nowhere  so  richly  as  among 
missionaries,  they  toiled  and  prayed,  believing 
"that  prayers  and  tears  through  Christ  Jesus,  can 
accomplish  anything."  In  1830  there  were  more 
attendances,  and  more  attention  was  given  to 
the  truth.  But  the  most  powerful  witnesses  were 
the  lives  of  these  godly  men  and  women.  These 
Maoris  could  not  but  see  a  tremendous  contra' t 


312         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

between  themselves  and  the  heroic  and  unselfish 
souls  who  were  risking  life  itself  for  their  sakes. 

The  first  conversions  startled  the  whole  com- 
munity. Tawai  and  Miti,  two  of  their  greatest 
warriors,  openly  declared  their  allegiance  to  the 
new  captain  of  their  salvation.  God's  Spirit  was 
at  work.  Some  came  forty  miles  in  canoes  to  hear 
the  Gospel,  and,  as  in  one  day,  multitudes  turned 
to  God.  The  natives  overflowed  the  chapel,  and 
the  forests  and  hills  became  sanctuaries,  where  the 
Word  was  preached  to  attentive  listeners.  The 
missionaries  could  now  travel  far  and  wide  only  to 
find  multitudes  ready  to  both  hear  and  heed  the 
Gospel. 

Two  incidents  of  conversions  are  especially 
noteworthy.  On  a  certain  Sunday  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Taylor,  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England, 
was  administering  the  Lord's  Supper.  Among 
the  communicants  were  two  rival  chiefs,  Tamati 
Puna  and  Panapa.  When  the  former  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  table,  he  happened  to  kneel  next  to 
Panapa,  who  had  a  few  years  previously  killed  and 
eaten  Puna's  father.  This  was  the  first  time  they 
had  met  and  for  a  moment  the  old  spirit  of  re- 
venge seized  Tamati.  His  face  changed,  his  tongue 
protruded,  and  all  the  muscles  of  his  body  quiv- 
ered.   He  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  when  he  was  about 


MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS    313 

to  give  the  fatal  blow  to  his  rival  foe,  his  hand 
seemed  to  have  lost  its  power.  He  came  to  him- 
self, and  walked  out  of  the  meeting. 

In  a  few  moments  he  returned  a  changed  man, 
knelt  next  to  Panapa,  and  burst  out  weeping 
and  sobbing  like  a  child.  When  the  service  was 
over,  the  missionary  asked  him  "What  was  the 
matter.^"  for  his  emotions  were  extraordinary. 
"Ah,"  he  said,  "when  I  knelt  next  to  Panapa  I 
recognized  him  as  the  murderer  who  killed  and 
ate  my  father,  and  I  could  not  control  myself;  but 
somehow  I  could  not  strike  him,  and  as  I  walked 
out  I  heard  a  voice  saying,  'Thereby  shall  all  men 
know"  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  love  one 
another.  I  thought  I  saw  a  cross  and  a  man  nailed 
to  it,  and  I  heard  him  say,  'Father,  forgive  them. ' 
Then  I  returned  and  felt  ashamed,  and  came  back 
to  the  altar.  It  was  the  love  of  Jesus  that  melted 
my  heart  and  made  me  eat  of  the  same  bread  and 
drink  out  of  the  same  cup  with  the  murderer  of  my 
father. " 

On  another  Sunday,  four  converted  young  chiefs, 
in  their  zeal  for  the  Lord,  went  to  preach  to  a  des- 
perate gang  of  natives,  headed  by  a  chief  called 
Kaitoke,  and  as  they  began  to  preach  and  tell 
them  of  the  love  of  Jesus,  thev  were  urged  to  stop, 
but    the    young    men    persisted,    saying    that    the 


314         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Saviour  had  commanded  the  Gospel  to  be  preached 
to  all  men.  The  savages  threatened  to  kill  them, 
but  the  young  chiefs  continued  till  they  were  shot 
by  their  enemies.  News  of  the  tragedy  spread, 
and  the  whole  community  was  in  commotion. 
Heathen  friends  of  the  martyrs  wanted  to  avenge 
their  death,  but  the  missionaries  and  Christian 
chiefs  used  their  efforts  for  peace.  Hundreds 
of  armed  natives  were  ready  to  attack  the  enemy. 
Some  young  men  stole  away  and  fired  several  shots; 
others  followed,  and  a  battle  took  place  which 
lasted  for  two  hours.  Several  of  the  savages  and 
Christians  fell.  Kaitoke  was  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner,  after  which  his  band  laid  down  their 
arms  and  went  to  their  homes.  Haimond  Peta, 
an  old  warrior,  who  was  once  the  terror  of  his 
enemies,  but  had  become  a  Christian,  was  one  of 
the  leading  men  in  the  fray.  He  died  two  years 
later  a  devoted  Christian  and  before  his  death,  he 
said  to  one  of  the  missionaries,  "Don't  ask  the 
Lord  to  keep  me  here  any  longer.  I  have  taken 
leave  of  my  people  and  children;  my  heart  is  in 
heaven,  and  I  long  to  depart." 

Chief  Kaitoke  himself  was  converted  the  first 
time  he  attended  church.  Wlien  Chief  Wirema 
Patuone  saw  him  entering  the  meeting-house,  he 
became  greatly  excited  and  cried  aloud:   "O  God, 


MIRACLES  AMONG  THE  MAORIS   315 

give  the  murderer  a  new  heart. "  The  Lord  an- 
swered that  prayer;  and  he  and  several  of  his  sav- 
age tribe  embraced  the  Christian  faith  and  were 
baptized. 

In  1809  the  ship  Boyd  had  been  plundered  and 
burned  by  these  cannibals,  who  devoured  every 
survivor  of  the  crew.  Behold  the  contrast!  A 
shipwreck  at  Kaipara  Heads  cast  over  200  persons 
naked  and  destitute  on  the  shore.  They  were 
received  with  humane  and  Christian  kindness; 
not  to  be  clubbed  and  roasted,  but  snugly  housed 
and  fed  in  Okaro,  and  not  one  farthing  would  these 
Maoris  accept  in  return  for  their  hospitality. 

Most  wonderful  of  all,  these  New  Zealand- 
ers  felt  that  they  must  send  the  Gospel,  which  had 
brought  them  such  blessing,  to  the  destitute  about 
them.  A  grand  missionary  meeting  was  called  by 
the  Okaroans.  It  was  a  three  days'  meeting. 
One  whole  day  was  consumed  in  addresses  on 
missions,  fifteen  or  sixteen  of  which  were  made  by 
converted  natives.  No  wonder  if  all  eyes  wept  as 
these  regenerated  cannibals  told  of  Him  v.ho  had 
saved  them,  and  of  their  passion  to  tell  of  Jesus  to 
the  lost.  Poor  as  they  were  they  made  an  offering 
of  sixty-five  dollars — an  average  of  about  thirty 
cents  for  each  attending  native  Christian! 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  Maoris  was  one 


3i6         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

of  large  and  frequent  outpourings  of  the  Spirit. 
They  sought  to  bless  others  and  were  themselves 
blessed.  Hundreds  were  converted,  new  churches 
were  organized,  and  new  buildings  erected  in  all 
peopled  districts;  native  young  men  were  trained 
and  sent  forth  as  evangelists,  and  the  isles  re- 
sounded with  praise   to  God  ! 


Chapter  XVI 

OBSTACLES    AND    OPPORTUNITIES    IN 

THE  PHILIPPINES 

BY 

Rev.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  D.D. 
Author  of  "The  New  Era  in  the  Philippines," 

AND 

Rev.  John  Bancroft  Devins,  D.D. 
Author  of  "  An  Observer  in  the  Philippines  " 


Chapter  XVI 

OBSTACLES      AND      OPPORTUNTIES      IN       THE 
PHILIPPINES 

T7IGHT  millions  of  people  on  the  other  side  of 
the  planet  have  recently  come  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  American  Government.  Some  of  them 
are  partially  civilized,  many  are  wholly  primitive, 
and  nearly  all  are  heathen  with  a  thin  veneer  of 
Romanism  of  the  medieval-Spanish  type. 

They  are  not  an  inherently  degraded  or  vicious 
people.  For  uncounted  centuries  their  women 
have  been  creatures  of  men,  and  if  they  easily 
yield  to  the  soldier  and  the  priest,  it  is  not  so  much 
because  of  a  lascivious  disposition  as  because  they 
have  never  been  taught  to  have  a  conscience  on 
the  subject  or  to  feel  that  it  was  possible  for 
them  to  resist  anything  a  man  may  desire.  Their 
Church  leaders,  who  should  have  inculcated  loftier 
standards,  put  a  premium  upon  concubinage  by 
refusing  to  perform  the  marriage  ceremony  except 
for  exorbitant  fees. 

The  unwillingness  of  the  Filipino  to  work  is  a 
serious  problem  in  the  development  of  the  islands. 

.VI 


320         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Rich  soil,  perpetual  summer,  and  simple  wants  are 
not  conducive  to  hard  labor.  Little  toil  is  neces- 
sary in  a  land  where  bananas,  coconuts,  and  hemp 
grow  spontaneously,  and  the  sugar-cane,  once  fairly 
started,  thrives  so  vigorously  that  weeds  can  not 
compete  with  it.  A  few  hours'  work  with  a  bolo 
will  construct  a  hut  of  bamboo,  and  the  leaves 
of  the  abundant  nipa  will  thatch  it.  Clothing  is 
an  equally  simple  matter  in  that  soft  climate. 
There  is  thus  little  stimulus  to  work. 

The  Filipinos  are  however  undergoing  a  proc- 
ess of  awakening  in  their  industrial  and  religious 
as  well  as  in  their  political  life.  An  instance 
of  this  process  of  awakening  is  the  experience  of 
the  Presbyterian  missionaries  in  the  island  of 
Panay.  They  rented  a  house  in  Molo,  a  large 
town  which  is  really  a  suburb  of  Iloilo,  and  were 
kindly  received  by  the  people.  A  house  was  prom- 
ised for  a  school  and  children  to  attend  its  sessions. 
As  they  were  unable  to  speak  the  dialect  it  was 
impossible  to  take  advantage  of  these  offers  at  first. 
A  visit  from  a  U.S.  Army  chaplain  (Roman  Cath- 
olic) seemed  to  change  the  spirit  of  the  chief  men 
of  the  village,  and  the  priests  (Filipinos)  began  to 
exercise  their  authority.  A  young  public  school 
teacher  who  was  teaching  one  of  the  mission- 
aries Visayan  was  dismissed  from  his  school.    The 


^^wrn^ 


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^Jb'ngkong 


-^- 


Balintang  Clmnnel 


Bashee  Chniiittt 


pniLippi]ST:  ^' 


ISI^AXDS 


ENGLISH  MILES 


m 


.^  /  LUZON 


11  VMI.V 


1 


r.«y         'i( 

^(TANOUANES  I. 


LINACAPA' 

Cabuli  ff, 
Tait-V 


•■ARi.     r^ 


PALAWAN   CR 


PARAGUA   lELA 

£uiauyan  I 

BALABAC  STIt 

BALAMBANCAN 
Bampanmanji.  /; 
Mnru* 
A 


BayUr      Sin. 

B  Minduro  s.  m 

.S«»l     Zanil... 


-,MINDAN,»a 


^r»ai  *  1^,.  tf^u  M.  X.. 


IGORROTE    SCHOOL   CHILDREN    FROM   THE   PHILIPPINES. 


MOHAMMEDANS  OF  THE  SULU  ARCHIPELAGO. 


THE  PHILIPPINES  321 

young  men  who  were  studying  English  with  the 
missionaries  were  threatened  with  excommunica- 
tion, and  later  a  man  who  was  assisting  the  Baptist 
missionary  in  the  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  waylaid  and  murdered  outside  of  town. 
The  military  authorities  then  advised  the  mis- 
sionaries to  move  into  Iloilo,  that  they  might  be 
better  protected.  This  they  did,  and  Molo  seemed 
closed.  Within  six  months  the  people  begged  them 
to  return,  and  now  a  good  congregation  meets 
twice  a  week  in  the  center  of  the  town.  The  rule 
of  the  native  priest  savored  too  much  of  friardom 
and  was  not  to  be  borne.  Not  only  there  but  in 
many  other  places  the  people  welcome  Protestant 
services. 

Liberty  is  the  order  of  the  day,  and  it  would  be 
impossible  to  stop  the  movement  away  from  Rome 
were  it  desirable.  Is  it  surprising  that  the  people 
should  cast  aside  the  most  galling  of  all  yokes  that 
they  have  worn  J  The  Christian  Church  has 
large  opportunities  as  well  as  undeniable  duties 
to  these  people.  The  Church  has  been  praying 
for  open  doors,  and  now  the  doors  are  not  only 
open,  but  the  people  are  anxious  and  eager  for 
instruction,  and  yet  there  are  not  men  and  money 
to  carry  on  the  work. 

The  movement  which  has  begun  in  and  about 


322 


THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 


Manila  will  spread  to  all  parts  of  the  islands,  for 
the  people  are  ready  for  instruction.  With  the 
fulfilment  of  the  promises  of  the  Government  by 
the  establishment  of  provincial  and  municipal 
government,  the  old  feeling  of  distrust  and  fear 
are  being  replaced  by  confidence  and  trust.  There 
are  dangers  and  perils  in  the  path  of  the  work  of 
reconstruction  and  education.  There  is  danger 
that  liberty  will  mean  license  to  an  untrained 
people.  There  is  danger  of  an  unholy  com- 
promise with  error  in  order  to  win  the  people 
in  great  numbers.  There  is  danger  of  a  Protestant 
formalism  in  exchange  for  the  Roman. 

The  missionaries  are  doing  their  utmost  to  avoid 
these  dangers,  but  they  realize  that  now  is  the  time 
for  a  distinct  eflPort  to  spread  the  Gospel  from  one 
end  of  the  islands  to  the  other.  The  great  danger 
is  that  the  people,  freed  from  the  ecclesiastical  tyr- 
anny of  the  past,  will  drift  into  indifference  or  lapse 
into  heathenism  again.  Such  has  been  the  case 
in  every  Spanish  colony  that  gained  its  freedom. 

OBSTACLES  TO   CHRISTIANITY* 

The  difficulties  that  beset  Christian  missionaries 
in  their  work  for  the  Filipinos  are  not  wholly  due 
to  the  indifference  and  wilfulness  of  the  people 

*By  John  B.  Devins,  D.D. 


THE  PHILIPPINES  323 

nor  to  their  unfortunate  history.  Many  of  them 
are  such  as  should  not  exist  in  an  American  colony. 

Probably  the  greatest  of  these  obstacles  is  the 
example  of  the  Americans.  The  gross  violations 
of  financial  confidence  by  Americans  in  civil, 
military,  and  business  life,  resulting  in  newspaper 
exposures  and  terms  of  imprisonment;  the  in- 
dulging in  customs  which  offend  the  Filipinos,  and 
which  fill  the  society  columns  of  the  newspapers, 
lead  the  natives  to  reject  that  form  of  religion 
which  the  Americans  represent.  A  trusted  Ameri- 
can employee  arrested  for  embezzlement,  a  soldier 
leaving  his  Filipino  wife,  or  mistress,  when  his 
regiment  sails  for  home,  or  a  Sunday  house-party 
in  the  country  with  a  cock-fight  as  an  attraction, 
lead  the  Filipinos  to  wonder  whether  their  islands 
have  gained  in  morality  by  their  exchange  of  owners 
and  armies.  The  friars  do  not  let  an  opportunity 
slip  for  deepening  or  creating  the  impression 
that  the  Spaniards,  and  not  the  Americans,  are 
the  real  Christians. 

The  attitude  of  the  American  Government  is 
strictly  non-partisan.  Any  man  may  worship  God 
as  he  pleases.  A  Roman  Catholic,  an  Aglipayan, 
a  Protestant,  or  an  infidel  will  be  protected  equally 
in  his  worship  or  non-worship.  At  the  same  time, 
there  has  been  an  impression  among  the  American 


324         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

teachers  and  civil  government  employees  that 
their  superiors  will  be  better  pleased  if  nothing  is 
done  by  Protestants  which  serves  to  emphasize 
their  religious  tendencies,  such  as  the  erftertain- 
ment  of  missionaries  or  Bible  agents,  or  attendance 
on  Protestant  services. 

Aside  from  the  attitude  of  the  Government, 
whose  non-Catholic  representatives  have  not  been 
openly  in  favor  of  Protestantism,  the  social  customs 
of  many  Americans  do  not  aid  the  missionaries, 
who  ought  to  be  assisted  by  the  people  from  the 
home  land.  It  seems  pitiable  that  Americans 
consider  it  necessary  to  sacrifice  their  own  sense 
of  right  in  order  to  conform  to  the  customs  of 
those  whom  they  should  teach  Christian  principles. 
When  a  Filipino  calls  upon  another  native,  the 
host  never  thinks  of  offering  him  beer  or  whiskey, 
but  these  are  considered  necessary  when  an  Amer- 
ican calls. 

The  church-going  habit  by  Protestants  seems  to 
have  been  well-nigh  forgotten.  With  thousands 
of  Americans  in  Manila  not  Roman  Catholics, 
the  three  Protestant  churches  are  never  full. 

In  the  provinces,  outside  of  one  or  two  cities 
and  army  posts  where  there  are  chaplains  or  associ- 
ation secretaries,  there  is  practically  no  church 
attendance  on  the  part  of  the  Americans,  Protes- 


THE  PHILIPPINES  325 

tants  or  Catholics.  A  mission  to  the  Americans 
in  the  Philippines  is  quite  as  necessary,  perhaps 
more  so,  than  a  mission  to  the  Filipinos.  The 
clergymen  in  Manila  and  Iloilo,  and  in  one  or  two 
other  places,  are  doing  all  that  they  can  to  help 
their  countrymen  who  are  willing  to  be  helped. 

Climatic  conditions  and  distances  form  serious 
obstacles  to  religious  activity  in  the  Philippines. 
The  weather  is  often  called  upon  to  bear  blame 
for  which  it  is  not  responsible,  but  a  good  deal 
may  be  laid  at  the  door  of  a  temperature  which 
struggles  to  record  three  figures,  and  seldom  fails 
to  get  within  four  or  five  degrees  of  its  goal  for  days 
at  a  time,  even  during  months  not  in  the  so-called 
"  hot  season. "  When  one  has  been  wilting  and 
withering  for  six  days,  a  Sunday  in  the  country  or 
an  opportunity  to  "lie  around"  in  his  room  pre- 
sents a  temptation  not  easy  to  resist.  People  living 
within  a  block  of  the  church  find  the  atmosphere 
too  oppressive  to  venture  out,  while  others  walk 
miles  and  are  not  overcome  with  the  heat.  How 
the  missionaries  live  and  labor,  as  they  do  year 
after  year,  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  missions.  It 
is  true  that  many  of  them  are  not  strong,  and  that 
the  ladies  especially  find  it  necessary  to  go  to  Japan 
once  in  two  or  three  years.  If  any  missionary'  seeks 
a  hard  field,  let  him  or  her  apply  to  one  of  the 


326         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

boards    for   an  appointment  to  the   Philippines. 

The  question  of  language  and  race  also  form 
serious  obstacles  to  mission  work  in  many  parts 
of  the  islands.  This  has  been  obviated  somewhat 
by  the  plan  of  comity  adopted  when  the  American 
missionaries  came  here.  There  are  five  or  six 
denominations  carrying  on  work  among  the  natives, 
although  the  Episcopalians  are  concerned  chiefly 
with  the  Americans,  and  their  work  among  the  na- 
tives consists  largely  in  settlement  work.  None 
of  the  denominations  has  anything  like  an  ade- 
quate force  of  workers  to  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunities. 

Great  as  are  the  obstacles,  Christ  and  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Christian  churches  are  able  to 
overcome  them.  This  can  be  done  sooner  and  with 
less  loss  of  men  and  means  if  more  adequate  sup- 
port is  now  given  by  those  who  desire  to  see  the 
Kingdom  of  God  established  in  the  Philippine 
Islands. 

Among  the  many  encouragements  which  lead 
us  to  look  for  great  spiritual  harvests  in  these 
islands  are  the  number  of  strong  men  who  are  be- 
coming Christian  evangelists.  The  story  of  one 
of  these  men  is  ably  told  by  Bishop  Frank  W. 
Warne. 

About  ten  years  before  the  American  occupation 


THE  PHILIPPINES  327 

of  the  Philippines  Paulino  Zamora,  a  Filipino,  be- 
came anxious  to  secure  a  Protestant  Bible,  but 
there  was  none  to  be  had  in  all  the  islands.  After 
some  time  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  portion  of 
the  Bible  from  the  captain  of  a  Spanish  ship,  and 
began  to  study  it.  At  about  the  same  time  the 
British  and  P'oreign  Bible  Society  sent  two  agents 
to  the  Philippine  Islands.  They  were  poisoned, 
probably  at  the  instigation  of  the  friars,  in  the 
Manila  Hotel  De  Orienti.  One  of  them  died,  but 
the  other,  Mr.  Castells,  escaped  and  became  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
in  Central  America.  Paulino  Zamora  received 
from  them  a  complete  Bible  and  some  instructions. 
He  knew  that  he  could  not,  if  it  were  known,  keep 
a  Bible  in  his  home  in  Manila,  and  therefore  for 
the  purpose  of  studying  it  he  moved  out  in  the 
province  of  Bulacan,  some  distance  from  Manila, 
and  there  continued  his  Bible  study. 

Through  faith  in  the  truth  he  found  in  the  Bible 
he  entered  into  as  definite  an  experience  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  as  Martin  Luther  did  when  climb- 
ing the  Scala  Santa  on  his  knees. 

Zamora  rejoiced  in  his  new  experience  and  in- 
vited some  neighbors  to  study  the  Bible  with  him, 
and  it  soon  became  known  to  the  friars  that  a 
Protestant    Bible    was    in    his    possession.     One 


328         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

evening,  about  sunset,  his  house  was  surrounded 
by  the  police;  he  was  arrested,  a  search  was  made, 
and  the  Bible  found.  He  was  taken  to  Manila  and 
cast  into  the  Billibid  prison,  an  unventilated  dun- 
geon near  Manila,  Soon,  without  a  trial,  he  was 
banished  to  an  island  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

Zamora  had  a  brother  who  was  a  professor 
in  the  chief  Roman  Catholic  college  in  Manila. 
When  the  father  was  banished,  this  brother  took 
his  nephew,  Zamora's  son  Nicholas,  and  put  him 
into  a  college  to  educate  him  for  the  Roman 
Catholic  priesthood. 

When,  in  the  provision  of  God,  America  gave 
religious  liberty  to  the  Filipinos,  Paulino  Zamora 
was  able  to  return  to  Manila  and  at  about  the 
same  time  his  son  was  graduated  with  honors  for 
the  priesthood. 

During  all  the  years  of  his  college  course,  Nicho- 
las had  been  curious  to  see  the  book  on  account  of 
which  his  father  had  been  banished.  When  they 
met  in  Manila  under  the  protection  of  the  Ameri- 
can flag,  the  father  taught  his  son  the  Protestant 
Bible  and  led  him  into  a  clear  experience  of  per- 
sonal salvation. 

Soon  after  this,  during  the  month  of  July,  1899, 
Mr.  Arthur  Prautch,  a  Methodist  preacher  who 
had  an  institute  in  Manila  for  American   soldiers. 


THE  PHILIPPINES  329 

announced  in  the  Spanish  papers  that  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  there  would  be  a  Protestant  service, 
in  the  Spanish  language,  in  the  Soldiers'  Institute. 
He  secured  an  interpreter,  and  a  ver)^  few  people 
came  to  the  meeting.  Among  them  were  Paulino 
Zamora  and  his  son  Nicholas.  On  the  fourth 
Sunday  the  interpreter  failed  to  appear  and  Mr. 
Prautch,  not  knowing  Spanish,  said  to  Paulino, 
''Will  you  speak.''"  The  courageous  old  man 
stood  up,  but  his  voice  failed  him  and  he,  who 
had  endured  so  much,  w^as  unable  to  speak  in 
public.  He  therefore  turned  to  his  son  and  said, 
"Nicholas,  you  try!"  Nicholas  sprang  to  his  feet, 
opened  his  Bible,  and  read  with  much  enthusiasm 
the  passages  that  his  father  had  taught  him.  He 
then  told  the  people  how  he  had  found  peace  with 
God  through  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with- 
out the  intercession  of  the  priests.  Mr.  Prautch 
saw  quickly  that  Nicholas  was  a  God-chosen  and 
prepared  instrument,  and  asked  him  to  speak 
again  next  Sunday.  Nicholas  replied:  "It  will 
give  me  pleasure." 

Mr.  Prautch  announced  that  on  the  following 
Sunday  Nicholas  Zamora  would  preach  in  the 
institute  in  the  Spanish  language.  This  news 
spread  rapidly  over  the  city,  got  into  the  daily 
papers,  and  the  next  Sunday  there  was  a  crowd. 


330  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Nicholas  continued  from  Sunday  to  Sunday,  and 
the  crowd  increased,  and  in  February,  1900,  when 
Bishop  Thoburn  and  Bishop  Warne  arrived  in 
Manila,  Nicholas  was  preaching  in  seven  different 
centers  to  good  audiences  and  was  one  of  the  most 
widely  known,  best  loved  and  hated  man  in  Manila. 

Some  weeks  later,  there,  in  the  Soldiers'  Home, 
in  a  room  with  a  dusty  floor,  without  a  pulpit  or  an 
altar,  and  with  only  a  few  rough  chairs,  Bishop 
Thoburn  ordained  Nicholas  Zamora,  the  first 
Protestant  minister  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

Zamora's  aged  father  sat  in  the  audience,  and 
when  the  ordination  was  over  the  old  man  rushed 
forward,  threw  his  arms  around  Bishop  Thoburn 
and  hugged  him  and  wept  on  his  neck,  and  trem- 
blingly quoted  in  the  Spanish  language  the  very 
words  of  Simeon:  "God,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy 
servant  depart  in  peace,  according  to  Thy  word, 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation."  How 
kind  and  wise  the  Providence  that  permitted  the 
trembling  old  man,  who  had  suffered  for  religious 
liberty  and  who  had  been  imprisoned  and  banished 
and  who  had  led  his  own  son  into  the  clear  Chris- 
tian experience,  to  see  that  very  son  ordained  the 
first  Protestant  minister  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

The  work  has  grown,  due  largely  to  the  work 
of  Nicholas  Zamora,  until  over  1500  persons  have 


THE  PHILIPPINES  331 

been  baptized  and  taken  into  the  Methodist  Church 
and  more  than  300  couples  have  received  Protes- 
tant marriages,  indicating  their  final  break  with 
Romanism. 

Under  the  leadership  of  Nicholas  the  first 
Protestant  church  in  the  Philippine  Islands  was 
built  and  largely  paid  for  by  the  Filipino  Protes- 
tant Christians,  and  in  August,  1900,  Bishop 
Warne  dedicated  the  first  Protestant  church  in 
the  Philippine  Islands. 

PADRE  JUAN  AND  THE  VISAYAN  PEASANTS 

One  of  the  greatest  fields  of  opportunity  for  the 
Gospel  is  in  the  Visayan  Islands.*  Here  the  Gos- 
pel has  been  welcomed  first  by  the  peasants.  The 
first  missionaries  came  to  the  Visayan  Islands 
with  definite  hopes  and  plans  to  evangelize  the 
better-educated  natives,  who  had  become  enlight- 
ened enough  to  throw  off  the  religious  yoke  imposed 
by  the  friars.  This  liberal-minded,  leading  class 
seemed  to  offer  the  greatest  opportunity,  and  plans 
and  expectations  accordingly  took  little  account 
of  the  peasants.  But  God,  who  directs  the  great 
missionary  enterprise  in  all  lands,  did  not  thus 
leave   out   of  account   these   neglected    Visayans, 

♦This  storj'  of  the  work  in  the  Visayan  Islands  is  contrib- 
uted by  Rev.  Charles  W.  Brig.G;s  of  the  American  Baptist 
M-bssionary  Union,  stationed  at  Iloilo. 


332         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

for  the  missionaries  soon  found  that  the  peasants 
were  the  only  ones  who  would  attend  the  services, 
and  the  only  ones  to  whom  the  Gospel  appealed. 
Since  the  opening  of  the  work,  in  1900,  practically 
all  evangelical  services  have  been  conducted  in 
the  Visayan  language  and  for  the  peasants.  Work 
for  the  upper  class  has  not  been  neglected,  nor 
has  it  been  entirely  without  its  fruit,  but  it  has 
never  assumed  large  proportions. 

The  barrio,  or  village  peasants,  were  especially 
prepared  for  the  coming  of  Protestantism  long 
before  a  Protestant  missionary  ever  seriously  con- 
sidered coming  to  them  with  the  Gospel.  Here, 
as  in  Christ's  time ,  it  was  in  the  fulness  of  time  that 
the  evangel  was  first  preached.  Their  preparation 
was  two-fold.  For  many  decades  a  suspicion  had 
been  developing  among  these  peasants  toward  the 
Roman  Church  and  the  government  it  represented. 
This  spirit  of  rebellion  naturally  called  down  upon 
the  barrios  the  furious  and  cruel  hand  of  the  des- 
potic power  exercised  by  the  friars.  The  dreaded 
guardia  civil  raided  the  barrio  country,  and  the 
peasants  retaliated  by  raiding  the  towns  and  mak- 
ing it  unsafe  for  officials  and  papal  propagandists 
to  go  into  the  barrio  country  unarmed.  In  some 
districts  near  the  towns  the  power  of  the  friars 
was  so  great  that  the  peasants  were  compelled  to 


THE  PHILIPPINES  333 

pay  a  feigned  subservience  to  the  authorities, 
while  in  the  more  distant  sections  and  in  the  moun- 
tain regions  the  peasants  were  practically  never 
reduced  to  submission.  These  conditions  during 
the  several  decades  preceding  the  famous  revolu- 
tion in  1896  were  breeding  a  spirit  of  Protestantism 
that  became  very  intense.  They  identified  their 
oppressors  and  their  priests  with  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic faith.  Thus  they  had  broken  with  their  Roman- 
ism and  were  in  a  Protestant  attitude  waiting  for 
competent  leaders,  and  the  first  missionaries  found 
it  relatively  easy  to  gain  an  immense  following  from 
these  most  desirable  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Visayan  Islands. 

These  ignorant  peasants  were  inevitably  ex- 
ploited by  various  demagogues,  who,  under  polit- 
ico-religious pretenses,  led  them  into  all  sorts  of 
superstitions  and  secret  organizations.  But,  won- 
derful to  tell,  one  of  their  leaders  was  a  man  of 
apostolic  mould  and  power.  His  name  is  now 
universally  known  as  Padre  Juan,  or  "Father" 
or  "Priest"  John.  His  story  is  as  fascinating  as 
his  work  and  his  influence  were  remarkable. 

Padre  Juan  was  a  native  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
a  native  of  southern  Luzon,  who  came  to  Panay 
some  forty  years  ago.  He  was  sent  by  the  friars 
as  a  missionary  to  the  barrios  in  the  interior  ot 


334  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

Panay.  But  the  friars  soon  heard  disturbing 
rumors  about  Padre  Juan,  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
become  a  demagog,  was  looked  upon  as  a  miracle- 
worker  by  the  peasants,  and  that  he  was  stirring 
up  sedition  and  teaching  false  doctrines.  After  a 
fruitless  search  for  him  by  the  guardia  civil,  he  was 
eventually  captured,  reduced  to  imprisonment  and 
finally  sent  to  the  penal  station  in  Paragua  Island, 
where  he  eventually  died  of  fever.  This  is  the 
friars'  version.  But  the  peasants  say  that  Padre 
Juan  came  to  them  as  a  leader  sent  from  God; 
that  he  brought  with  him  a  Bible  which  he  con- 
tinually read  and  taught  to  them,  and  that  he 
told  them  Christ  was  their  only  Saviour,  and  that 
images  and  saints  and  masses  were  idolatrous  and 
wicked.  He  loved  the  peasants  and  they  loved 
him  in  return,  and  followed  him  in  great  crowds, 
and  the  whole  barrio  and  mountain  region  believed 
in  him.  Then,  strangest  of  all,  he  told  them  that 
some  day  true  teachers  would  come  to  them,  white 
men,  but  different  from  the  friars,  and  that  they 
would  know  the  true  teachers  because  they  would 
bring  the  Bible — God's  own  Word — to  all  the 
people!  Then  Padre  Juan  was  captured,  and  all 
the  peasants  were  the  more  mercilessly  punished 
by  the  friar  government,  because  they  persisted 
in  believing  in  his  teaching.     They  endured   all 


THE  PHILIPPINES  335 

and  looked  forward  to  the  fulfilling  of  their  hope 
for  true  teachers.  These  things  happened  thirty 
or  forty  years  ago. 

When  the  first  missionaries  began  to  preach  in 
the  Jaro  market,  the  great  central  gathering  place  for 
the  barrio  peasants,  the  people  came  in  small  num- 
bers to  hear  the  new  white  teacher,  and  the  fact 
that  he  continually  used  the  Book  which  he  told 
them  to  be  God's  Word.  They  went  back  to  their 
barrios  and  told  what  they  had  seen.  Some  of 
the  older  people  remembered  Padre  Juan  or  had 
heard  of  him  and  recalled  his  prediction.  Others 
came  down  to  hear  again  the  new  teachers  and  to 
make  inquiry.  The  conviction  became  general 
that  the  true  teachers  had  finally  arrived,  and  from 
that  time  the  Protestant  services  were  thronged 
by  earnest  peasants.  The  missionaries  knew  noth- 
ing of  these  traditions  at  that  time,  and  marveled 
at  these  multitudes  in  a  Roman  Catholic  country 
who  came  calling  themselves  already  Protestants, 
and  saying  that  they  believed  God's  Word  even 
though  they  were  ignorant  and  humble,  and  that 
they  wished  to  have  it  explained  to  them  and  to 
be  organized  and  protected  by  the  new  teachers. 

Before  Protestant  work  had  been  prosecuted 
nine  months  in  the  jaro  market,  a  great  petition 
signed  by  more  than  thirteen  thousand  names  was 


336         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

brought  to  the  missionaries,  the  petition  stating  that 
all  the  undersigned  were  Protestants,  and  wished 
to  be  evangelized  and  organized  and  protected  as 
Protestants.  This  list,  at  first  looked  upon  with 
caution,  lest  it  be  but  the  fruitage  of  a  moment 
of  excitement  on  the  part  of  a  peasant  people  not 
knowing  what  they  were  asking  for,  was  found  to 
be  genuine. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  barrio  peasants  were  pre- 
pared for  the  Gospel.  Padre  Juan's  name  is 
already  as  nearly  buried  in  oblivion  as  his  friar 
enemies  could  succeed  in  burying  it.  He  may 
have  been  one  of  the  Filipinos  of  that  generation 
who  was  educated  abroad.  Be  that  as  it  may,  he 
had  manifestly  come  into  touch  with  the  truth  as 
it  is  in  Jesus,  and  resorted  to  this  means  of  plant- 
ing it  as  best  he  could  where  it  might  be  bearing 
fruitage  when  the  great  rising  tide  of  missions,  which 
he  was  spiritually  sensitive  enough  to  feel,  would 
flood  these  islands.  We  can  only  guess  at  who  he 
really  was,  and  where  he  got  his  Bible  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel.  We  wonder  and  thank 
Gcd  for  the  greatness  of  his  soul,  regret  the  tragedy 
of  his  short  career,  and  then  write  of  the  Philip- 
pines as  was  written  of  Galilee  and  Judea :  "  There 
was  a  man  who  came  from  God,  whose  name  was 
John;  and  he  came  to  bear  witness  to  the  Light. " 


lUi.    ..ul.Ul .\..U,i.   SrORT      COCK   l-IGlllIXu. 


I'ROTtlSTANr    SI,K\I(  I     |\     \    .  <  .,  KI'IT    IN    TUK    I'l  1 1  l.tlTINKS. 


<    •= 


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THE  PHILIPPINES  n-] 

John  the  forerunner,  was  here,  and  hundreds  of 
his  followers  are  today  baptized  Christians. 

Padre  Juan's  story  is  romantic,  but  one  must 
not  overlook  the  inevitable.  No  minister  could, 
in  four  or  five  brief  years,  lead  a  great  ignorant 
peasant  multitude  into  all  the  truth.  And  during 
the  thirt}'  or  forty  years  since  his  capture,  a  whole 
generation  has  passed  and  another  has  taken  its 
place.  Only  the  traditions  of  Padre  Juan  and  of 
his  message  remain,  and  these  are  often  confusing 
and  adulterated.  A  great  multitude  of  peasants 
are  ready  for  the  Gospel,  due  to  their  strange 
history  and  the  remarkable  way  in  which  God  led 
them  long  ago.  But  centuries  of  darkness  and 
error,  of  hungering  and  reaching  out  for  the  light, 
but  meanwhile  of  wandering  in  the  darkness,  have 
left  their  blight  upon  the  people.  A  long,  difficult 
task  confronts  those  who  would  lead  them  out  into 
the  fulness  of  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God.  More 
of  them  believe  the  preached  word  than  we  have 
as  yet  been  able  to  baptize,  organize  and  lead  in- 
to the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures.  Generations 
must  pass  before  the  barrio  country  can  become 
thoroughly  Christian,  grounded  in  the  truth  that 
Christ  left  us  to  teach.  Schools,  hospitals,  living 
examples  of  Christianity,  and  generations  of  faith- 
ful teachino;  line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  pre- 


338  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

cept  must  follow  before  the  end  for  which  we  work 
can  possibly  be  realized.  But  on  no  mission  field 
is  there  brighter  promise  of  the  relatively  speedy 
triumph  of  the  Gospel,  of  the  regeneration  and 
sanctification  of  the  whole  mass,  than  is  met  with 
today  in  the  great  barrio  country  in  central  and 
northern  Panay. 

Such  ripeness  for  evangelism  has  never  been 
seen  in  any  Roman  Catholic  field.  The  deep 
hatred  of  the  friars,  the  natural  curiosity  to  hear 
for  themselves  what  Protestantism  really  is,  and 
the  real  hunger  for  a  better  spiritual  life,  combine 
to  make  the  people  eager  to  hear  the  message. 
It  is  not  exactly  a  thirst  for  the  Gospel.  It  is 
simply  thirst!  They  are  restless,  discontented, 
and  ready  to  listen  to  the  story  of  a  satisfying  re- 
ligious life  begotten  in  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 


Chapter  XVII 

AMONG    THE    HEAD-HUNTERS    OF 

BORNEO 

BY 

Rev.  H.  L.  E.  Luering,  Ph.D. 

Missionary   of  the    Missionar}'^    Society    of    the 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


Chapter  XVII 

AMONG     THE    HEAD-HUNTERS    OF     BORNEO 

OORNEO,  the  largest  island  of  the  Malay 
Archipelago,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
friends  of  missions  at  an  early  date.  Especially 
in  Germany  interest  was  aroused  in  the  natives  of 
the  island  by  the  descriptions  of  modern  travelers 
and  by  the  reports  of  officials  of  the  Dutch  Govern- 
ment. The  Missionary  Society  of  Barmen,  there- 
fore, commenced  work  among  the  Dyaks,  starting 
from  the  Dutch  military  post  of  Bandjermasin  in 
Southern  Borneo.  But  in  the  year  1856  a  revolt 
against  the  Dutch  Government  wiped  out  every 
evidence  of  the  mission  work  by  the  murder  of  the 
missionaries.  For  a  number  of  years  no  attempt  was 
made  to  re-establish  the  mission,  but  finally  it  was 
organized  again,  and  at  present,  a  wide  interest 
has  been  awakened  and  considerable  success  seems 
to  be  assured.  Farther  in  the  northwest  the 
British  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
opened  work  among  the  more  or  less  civilized 
inhabitants  of  the  State  of  Sarawak.  This  state 
is  under  the  beneficent  rule  of  Rajah  Brooke,  the 

341 


342  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

successor  of  his  illustrious  uncle,  who  has  done 
more  for  the  civilization  of  at  least  a  part  of  Borneo 
than  any  other  white  man. 

The  extreme  north  of  the  island  of  Borneo  is 
occupied  by  the  territory  of  the  British  North 
Borneo  Company,  an  English  trading  firm  resem- 
bling in  its  purposes  more  or  less  the  old  East 
India  Company.  This  district  had  been  left  to 
itself  as  far  as  missionary''  effort  was  concerned, 
and  being  the  most  unknown  part  of  the  island, 
it  was  also  the  most  uncivilized.  A  large  number 
of  peoples  speak  different  tongues,  some  resem- 
bling those  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  They  were 
constantly  at  war  with  each  other,  and  their  houses 
were  decorated  with  the  smoked  heads  of  their  de- 
feated enemies  as  trophies  of  war  and  emblems  of 
tribal  bravery.  They  lived  with  no  other  foreign  in- 
fluence than  that  of  the  supercilious  and  oppressive 
Malay  settler  and  the  Chinese  trader,  who  under 
European  influence  imported  the  deadly  opium 
poison  which  demoralized  the  weaker  Dyak  more 
rapidly  even  than  the  more  wiry  Chinese.  Into 
this  country  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  sent 
its  first  missionary,  in  February  of  the  year  1891. 

In  the  company  of  the  superintendent  of  the 
Malaysia  Mission,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Floyd,  I 
reached  Sandakan  the  capital  of  the  State,  where 


HEAD-HUNTERS  OF  BORNEO      343 

the  Governor  pointed  out  the  strategic  importance 
of  a  mission  at  Limbawang,  about  five  days 
Journey  from  Kimanis  on  the  river  of  the  same 
name.  We  proceeded  therefore  to  Kimanis  from 
whence  after  a  short  time  Dr.  Floyd  returned  to  his 
headquarters  in  Singapore. 

Soon  after  there  was  a  flood  between  Limbawang 
and  Kimanis,  followed  by  an  outbreak  of  a  peculiar 
semi-religious  riot  in  the  interior  and  a  famine. 
These  prevented  my  reaching  the  heart  of  Lim- 
bawang, and  after  careful  consideration  I  decided 
to  accept  the  invitation  of  the  native  chieftain  of 
Kimanis,  ofthe  tribe  of  the  Kenowits,  to  settle  there. 
I  erected  my  mission  house  on  the  northern  bank 
of  the  river,  opposite  the  large  tribal  house  of 
Anakoda  Unsang,  the  chieftain,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river.  There  were  a  few  Malay  settlements 
near  by  toward  the  seacoast,  as  well  as  a  number 
of  Chinese  stores,  but  a  little  farther  away  there 
were  villages  of  Dusuns  or  Kadasans,  Muruts 
and  Peluans,  all  Bornean  tribes,  speaking  different 
languages.  Some  were  refugees  from  the  Philip- 
pines, who  had  fled  from  Spanish  justice  or  the  more 
obnoxious  oppression  of  the  Spanish  priest.  The 
majority  of  these  people  were  Bisayas  (Visayans). 
There  was  therefore  no  lack  of  opportunities 
nor  lack  of  variety  of  work,  tho  the   population 


344         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

was  not  as  dense  as  one  would  have  liked.  I  was 
permitted  at  once  to  commence  work  among  the 
Malays  and  Chinese,  whose  languages  I  had 
mastered,  and  I  immediately  attempted  the  ac- 
quisition of  the  languages  of  the  Kenowits  and 
other  Bornean  tribes.  My  work  in  connection 
with  the  erection  of  my  house  greatly  assisted  me. 
I  had  engaged  two  natives  to  help  me  in  the  cutting 
and  preparing  of  timber,  and  their  gossip  and 
other  conversation  as  well  as  the  talking  of  visitors 
to  the  scene  of  our  labors  provided  me  with  the 
best  opportunity  of  hearing  the  languages  spoken. 
An  ever  ready  notebook  and  pencil  fixed  words 
and  phrases  in  my  vocabulary,  and,  in  turn,  these 
were  used  on  the  first  opportunity  to  verify  their 
meaning. 

In  this  way  I  acquired  enough  of  the  language, 
in  a  comparatively  short  time,  to  enable  me  to  com- 
mence an  organized  effort  to  teach  the  children 
and  instruct  the  grown-up  people  in  the  Gospel 
and  in  other  useful  information.  Meanwhile  I 
gained  a  deeper  knowledge  of  the  manners  and 
customs  and  religious  views  of  the  people.  The 
head-hunting  propensities  of  the  Dyaks  are  well 
known  to  the  student  of  ethnology.  I  learned  that 
the  leading  thought  in  the  taking  of  heads  was 
the  idea  that  the  conqueror  could  secure  the  "soul " 


'A- 


Li 


,■>■;;,     •v;;,;*';>i  '. 


cv 


A   HOUSE   OF    DVAix    111,  \|.  Ill   .\li,U>.    i;..k   ,ii 


A  CHINESE   CHRISTIAN    CtJXGREGATIUN   IX    BORNEO. 


HEAD-HUNTERS  OF  BORNEO      345 

of  the  conquered  and  add  it  to  his  own  soul,  in- 
creasing thereby  his  courage  and  strength,  and  con- 
sequently his  reputation  as  a  hero,  as  long  as  the 
head  of  the  victim  remained  in  his  possession. 
It  is  therefore  the  custom  of  the  people  after  battle, 
to  wrap  the  conquered  heads  in  a  loose  crate  of 
rattan  and  to  smoke  them  over  a  fire  of  damp 
wood  and  leaves.  Then  they  hang  the  ghastly 
trophies  in  the  houses  in  bundles  having  an 
uncanny  resemblance  to  gigantic  grapes,  each 
head  forming  a  berry.  It  needs  no  further  men- 
tion that  these  war-trophies  are  considered  by  the 
Dyaks  their  most  sacred  possessions  and  are 
guarded  with  the  utmost  jealousy  and  vigilance. 
Their  loss  would  mean  not  only  a  considerable 
decrease  of  personal  prestige,  but  also  the  loss  of 
a  part  of  the  "  soul, "  i.e.,  of  courage  and  strength. 

In  the  field  of  religious  knowledge  there  is  a  very 
general  belief  in  a  good  and  powerful  god  called 
Kinaringan,  the  creator  of  heaven  and  earth. 
His  blessed  abode  is  on  the  heights  of  that  lofty 
peak,  Kinabalu,  not  far  from  the  Marudu  bay, 
about  forty  miles  to  the  north  of  the  mission 
house.  Kinaringan  is  not  worshipped,  as  far  as  I 
could  ascertain,  tho  evil  spirits  innumerable  are 
appeased  by  simple  sacrifices,  and  sometimes 
exorcised  by  magic  formulas.     The  brave  Dyak, 


346         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

however,  expects  to  abide  with  Kinaringan  after 
death,  and  hopes  that  on  the  heavenly  heights  a 
handful  of  grain  strewn  into  the  fertile  soil  will 
produce  a  harvest  sufficient  for  all  eternity. 

I  have  often  had  the  questionable  privilege  of 
sitting  under  the  bundles  of  heads  in  the  Dyak 
houses,  for  that  is  the  seat  of  honor,  and  of  closely 
examining  them.  Anakoda  Unsang,  who  claimed 
to  be  my  friend,  was  not  a  talkative  man,  but 
when  roused  from  his  studied  stolidity  he  would 
relate  the  circumstances  of  many  a  battle  and 
victory  in  the  past  with  apparent  gusto,  not  un- 
willing to  declare  his  courage  and  reputed  invul- 
nerability. 

Among  these  people  I  commenced  my  mission- 
ary labors.  These  consisted  in  teaching  a  num- 
ber of  boys  and  adults  the  Roman  alphabet  and 
the  reading  of  a  few  simple  words,  which  had  been 
printed  on  two  pages  in  our  mission  press  at 
Singapore.  Some  amount  of  national  prejudice 
had  to  be  overcome  as  is  illustrated  by  the  follow- 
ing story. 

The  Dyaks  say,  that  at  the  beginning  Kina- 
ringan created  four  classes  of  men,  the  yellow  men 
(Chinese),  the  brown  men  (Malays),  the  white 
men  (Europeans)s  and  themselves,  men  without 
descriptive  epithet     The  yellow  men  were  clever 


HEAD-HUNTERS  OF  BORNEO      347 

with  their  hands,  able  to  do  anything  that  required 
skill;  the  brown  men  excelled  in  the  worship  of 
God  (being  Mohammedans),  bowing  before  him 
five  times  every  day;  the  white  men  were  very 
magicians,  causing  the  iron  to  float  and  building 
iron  ships  which  would  go  over  the  sea  without 
either  oars  or  sails;  but  all  three  races  were  sadly 
deficient  in  the  powers  of  memory.  To  remedy 
this  great  deficiency  Kinaringan  prepared  letters 
and  characters  which  he  presented  to  them,  in 
which  they  could  write  down  what  otherwise  they 
would  forget.  The  Dyak  did  not  need  this  gift, 
for  "we  never  forget  anything,  and  therefore  have 
no   need   of  writing!" 

Nevertheless  a  few  acquired  the  accomplish- 
ment of  writing  and  reading  their  own  names  and 
a  few  simple  words,  while  the  instruction  gave  us 
an  opportunity  of  making  progress  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  language  and  the  mind  of  the  people. 
Gradually  I  commenced  preaching,  and  both  in 
private  and  in  public  tried  to  exert  an  influence 
among  them. 

To  convey  an  idea  of  the  difficulty  of  my  task — 
aside  of  the  difficulty  of  the  language — I  mention 
but  one  incident.  Speaking  of  the  divine  com- 
mand, "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  I  encountered  a 
specimen  of  rather  acute  logic.      "Sir,"  said  one, 


348         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

"you  do  not  fulfil  this  commandment,  for  you  too 
kill  the  animals  of  the  forest."  "Yes,"  I  replied, 
"but  this  commandment  means:  Thou  shalt  not 
kill  men."  "Oh  surely  not,"  answered  my  native 
friend,  "for  does  it bringyouhonorto kill  animals  ?" 
I  answered,  "No,  we  kill  them  for  food,  not  for 
honor."  "But  we,"  he  replied,  "kill  men  for 
honor,  and  we  are  praised  for  bringing  home  the 
heads  of  our  enemies.  How  can  that  be  sin  which 
brings  us  honor,  while  that  which  brings  you  no 
honor  shall  not  be  sin.''" 

After  I  had  learned  more  of  the  religious  views  of 
the  people,  I  learned  to  answer  this  argument. 
I  could  remind  them  of  the  fact  that  Kinaringan, 
in  creating  men,  had  endowed  them  with  many 
gifts,  the  country  and  all  that  was  therein,  but  that, 
more  priceless  than  any  other  gift,  he  had  given 
men  his  own  breath  or  soul,  that  which  we  call  life; 
and  would  he  allow  men  to  ruthlessly  take  away 
what  he  had  given  his  people,  or  would  he  not 
severely  punish  those  that  destroyed  the  life  which 
had  proceeded  from  him  .? 

A  very  satisfactory  proof  of  the  efficiency  of 
the  teaching  on  this  subject  was  seen  in  the  fact 
that  in  the  whole  neighborhood,  this  side  of  Limba- 
wang — within  a  radius  of  sixty  miles  from  my  house 
— no  human  head  was  brought  home  in  triumph 


HEAD-HUNTERS  OF  BORNEO      s^g 

during  the  whole  length  of  my  stay  in  Kimanis. 

Early  in  December  I  received  a  letter  from  the 
headquarters  of  our  mission  demanding  my  im- 
mediate return  to  Singapore.  Our  missionary 
force  there  had  been  weakened  by  illness,  the  col- 
league whom  Bishop  Thoburn  had  expected  to 
send  me  had  given  up  the  thought  of  mission  work 
in  the  foreign  field,  and  had  engaged  in  work 
among  the  Jews  of  New  York  and  neighborhood; 
and  as  the  Bishop  had  never  relished  the  idea  of 
having  one  of  his  workers  alone  in  savage  surround- 
ings, so  far  from  all  means  of  communication,  he 
urged  my  taking  up  work  in  Singapore.  A  few 
years  before  that  time  I  had  given  a  solemn  prom- 
ise at  the  moment  of  my  ordination  to  "reverently 
obey  them  to  whom  the  charge  and  government 
over  you  is  committed,  following  with  a  glad  mind 
and  will  their  godly  admonitions,"  and  as  I  had 
been  willing  to  go  I  was  not  unwilling  to  return. 

Nevertheless  it  was  the  saddest  farewell  which 
I  have  ever  been  called  upon  to  say  in  leaving  a 
charge.  Here  was  not  merely  the  affection  which 
naturally  arises  between  pastor  and  people,  but 
here  was  the  great  need  and  the  unfeigned  willing- 
ness to  listen  to  the  Gospel  message,  preached  in 
so  much  weakness,  and  here  was  the  improbability 
of  finding  a  successor  to  continue  the  necessary 


350         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

work.  I  had  arranged  for  a  boat  to  convey  me  to 
Labuan,  an  island  port  toward  the  west  from 
Kimanis,  where  I  could  hope  for  a  steamer  to 
Singapore  once  a  week,  while  the  nearer  port, 
Pulo  Gaya,  had  only  monthly  communication. 
The  boat  which  belonged  to  a  Chinese  (Cantonese) 
trader  was  old  and  leaky,  but  we  made  some 
necessary  repairs  which,  however,  did  not  stop 
every  leak. 

I  had  conveyed  my  belongings  into  the  vessel 
and  now  said  good-by  to  the  friends  which  I  had 
made.  How  great  was  the  sadness  of  farewell, 
how  kind  the  proffering  of  little  mementoes  and 
farewell  gifts,  how  earnest  the  request  for  a  teacher 
and  missionary!  The  darkness  of  the  evening  had 
fallen  upon  this  sad  afternoon  of  leave-taking  with 
the  rapidity  in  which  night  follows  upon  day  in 
the  heart  of  the  tropics,  and  yet  I  had  one  impor- 
tant call  to  make,  the  farewell  visit  to  Anakoda 
Unsang,  the  chieftain,  in  his  tribal  house.  I  had 
met  the  Kenowits  in  the  afternoon,  but  the  chief- 
tain had  been  absent,  so  I  set  out  after  sunset  to 
bid  him  farewell. 

After  ascending  the  notched,  slanting  tree  which 
serves  as  stairs  to  the  lofty  Dyak  building,  I  found 
him  seated  in  company  with  two  of  his  brothers, 
in  front  of  a  little  kerosene  oil  lamp,  a  simple  tin 


HEAD-HUNTERS  OF  BORNEO      351 

vessel  filled  with  American  Standard  oil,  which 
even  then  had  reached  Borneo.  The  cotton  wick 
produced  a  smoky  reddish  flame,  in  the  lurid  light 
of  which  I  saw  the  stalwart  figures  of  the  three 
Dyaks,  and  the  bundle  of  head  trophies  overhead, 
while  a  few  women  and  children  moved  to  and 
fro  in  the  deeper  darkness.  I  took  my  usual  seat 
before  them  and  the  conversation  began.  Anakoda 
Unsang  had  heard  of  my  intended  departure,  and 
wistfully  asked:  "Why  do  you  leave  us;  have 
any  of  us  treated  you  unfairly  .'"'  I  could  answer 
this  question  with  a  good  conscience,  for  these 
men  had  been  my  friends,  altho  the  chieftain  had 
given  less  evidence  of  interest  In  my  preaching 
than  anyone  else.  I  explained  the  reasons  of  my 
recall,  and  he  expressed  his  regret  at  my  leaving, 
asking  me  to  send  him  another  missionary  in 
my  stead. 

"You  do  not  really  seem  to  want  a  missionary, 
I  said,  "for  have  you  follow^ed  my  teaching,  have 
you  become  a  Christian,  you  or  your  people  .^" 

The  chieftain  now  pronounced  a  truth  which  no 
missionar}'  should  ever  forget,  in  saying:  "Sir, 
we  have  heard  your  preaching,  and  as  wise  men 
we  have  watched  your  living,  and  now  see  that 
both  agree,  your  preaching  and  your  living,  so 
that  we  are  willing  to  become  Christians.     You 


352         THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

have  told  us  many  good  things,  you  have  made  our 
mouths  water,  and  now  you  withdraw  the  food 
and  leave  us  to  ourselves.  Will  you  not  send  us 
a  rpissionary  ?" 

"Anakoda  Unsang,"  I  replied,  "you  do  not 
really  want  a  preacher.  These  heads  (pointing 
upward)  are  dearer  to  you  than  a  missionary. " 

"Do  not  say  so,"  he  replied,  "we  surely  want 
a    missionary." 

A  sudden  thought  came  to  me  to  prove  the 
sincerity  of  the  desire  of  the  savage  chieftain,  and 
I  said:  "Anakoda  Unsang,  give  me  one  of  these 
heads." 

I  had  intended  to  explam  the  reason  of  my 
extraordinary  request,  but  immediately  the  chief- 
tain had  grasped  the  hilt  of  his  sword  with  his 
right  hand,  and  jumping  into  a  standing  position 
he  had  dragged  the  weapon  halfway  out  of  its 
sheath,  while  his  eyes  shot  fiery  looks  at  me.  I 
had  never  before  seen  a  Dyak  look  so  fierce.  He 
stood  close  before  me.  I  had  risen  from  my  seat 
and  stretched  my  right  hand  toward  him,  so  near 
that  I  could  feel  the  hot  breath  which  escaped  from 
his  widely  opened  mouth.  His  lips  quivered  and 
his  hollow  cheeks  trembled  with  excitement.  It 
seemed  as  if  he  wanted  to  scream  his  battle-cry 
and  to  strike  at  me,  but  his  tongue  was  lamed  and 


HEAD-HUNTERS  OF  BORNEO      353 

his  hand  stayed  as  if  held  by  a  supernatural  invisi- 
ble hand.  I  looked  steadfastly  into  his  eyes,  and 
said  as  quietly  as  I  could: 

"Anakoda  Unsang,  you  know  me  as  a  man  of 
one  word.  You  have  told  me  to  send  you  a  mission- 
ary; therefore  I  say  again,  give  me  one  of  these 
heads,  and  I  will  take  it  with  me,  and  show  it  to 
■  my  friends  in  Singapore  and  at  home,  and  say  to 
them,  'See,  Anakoda  Unsang  has  broken  with 
the  customs  of  his  ancestors;  he  has  given  me  this 
head  as  a  pledge  that  he  will  become  a  Christian, 
and  that  he  wishes  a  missionary  for  himself  and 
his  people.'  Then  it  may  be  that  I  can  send  you 
a  substitute  for  myself. " 

When  I  had  said  this,  he  closed  his  eyes  for  a 
moment,  as  the  tiger  does  when  you  look  into  its 
eyes,  and  when  he  opened  them  again,  the  savage 
fire  had  died  out  in  them.  With  a  jerk  he  thrust 
his  sword,  which  had  not  yet  been  wholly  un- 
covered, back  into  its  sheath,  sank  back  into  his 
former  seat,  and  with  a  motion  of  his  hand  said 
quietly,  "All  right,  take  one,  choose  one  yourself." 

Anakoda's  brothers,  as  I  now  perceived,  had  sat 
motionless,  gazing  at  the  unwonted  scene.  They 
remained  so  as  I  took  my  pocket-knife  out  of 
my  pocket,  raised  myself  upon  a  low  stool,  and 
cut  out  of  a  bundle  of  thirty  heads  that  of  a  young 


354  THE  PACIFIC  ISLANDERS 

man,  wrapped  it  in  my  handkerchief,  and  said 
good-by  to  the  chief.  At  this  moment  the  chief- 
tain's wife,  who  must  have  observed  the  pro- 
ceedings, brought  a  bag  plaited  of  screw-pine 
leaves,  into  which  I  placed  the  head  with  the 
handkerchief.  The  two  brothers  sitting  with  us 
around  the  lamp  had  not  yet  recovered  from  their 
surprise,  but  finally  they  too  bade  me  farewell. 
A  few  moments  later  I  sped  my  way  through  the 
dark  and  presently  saw  the  little  gleam  of  light 
from  my  own  house  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
which  I  crossed  by  swimming,  holding  my  precious 
trophy  high  over  my  head  in  my  right  hand, 
striking  the  wave  with  my  left. 

Early  the  next  morning  I  left  Kimanis,  and 
after  three  days  of  a  stormy  and  perilous  voyage 
I  came  to  Labuan,  whence  in  due  time  I  reached 
Singapore  by  steamer. 

Six  months  after  my  departure  from  Borneo 
AnakodaUnsang,  my  friend,  was  killed  in  a  battle 
at  Limbawang,  where  he  had  been  sent  to  quell 
a  disturbance  among  the  tribes,  but  his  people  are 
still  waiting  (October,  1906)  for  the  fulfilment  of 
my  promise.  I  have  often  shown  the  ghasdy 
trophy  of  Borneo  in  Europe  and  America,  and 
made  my  plea.  When  will  we  send  missionaries 
to  evangelize  the  Dyaks  of  North  Borneo  ^ 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN   DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


7  Nov>56GR 


REC'D  LD 


OCT  24  1956 


7  0 


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OCT    8  19S9 


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FEB 


9  ?960 


lEC.  CIR.  JAN  1  4  1980 


LD  21-100m-6,'56 
(B9311sl0)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


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